A Step Onto Chronos
by Shadic the Hedgehog Author
Summary: A young man gets his wish to travel to the world of his favorite game. Is this but simple fate? Or is there something more in control of this adventure?
1. Into the Game

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter One**

**Into the Game**

Shadic the Hedgehog

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Chrono Trigger, Squaresoft/Enix/whatever does.

BZZZ! BZZZ! BZZZ! The alarm went off in my room at four A.M. like I had planned even though it was Saturday. I got off the floor, got dressed (black pants, black leather jacket, red shirt, black shoes, and a pair of sunglasses embedded in my hair), and walked outside. I walked over to my Dad's old blue van, opened up the side door and pulled out my Dad's old, dull long sword. I stepped out of the garage and proceeded to attack the snowbank along the east side of the driveway, strengthening my arm to weild the sword properly. I put on an old belt that I had with the sheath to my Dad's sword on it. I sheathed the sword and I stepped back. Pretending I had magic, I flung out my hand to attack, wishing that I was in the world of Chrono Trigger so that I could really learn magic, hopefully Fire.

A green and white sphere suddenly opened up in front of me and I took a step back. I thought it looked kinda familiar. I then stared at the glowing sphere until I was forced to blink. That's when I saw a reddish image of it on my retina.

"A GATE!" I yelled in surprise. I took another long look at it and began to wonder when I'd be off to, when I remembered that Time Gates were blue or red, while this one was green. I decided that as long as I tied a rope to my belt I would be fine.

I found a long piece of rope and tied it to a tree and my belt. I walked into the gate and, after a bit of travel effects, I caught a glimpse of a large red and pink robot in a white marble area. I was then suddenly yanked back. The rope was just long enough to allow that brief glimpse.

I then remembered a scene just like it in Chrono Trigger: that was Gato in Leene Square! I quickly untied the rope, drew the sword, and leapt into the Universe Gate (that's what I decided to call it) and traveled to the world of Chrono Trigger.

I was sweeping along the sea of dark blue travel effects with sword in hand. Along the way it slipped out of my hand and started to fall away in a different direction. I watched, unable to move as the blade began to sharpen and turn black before it vanished. At that moment I blacked out.

I woke up in a soft bed, but kept my eyes closed. My first thought was, _'wait_ _a minute, I don't sleep in a bed!'_ I snapped my eyes open to see a red haired boy with a crazy hairdo and a katana, and a blonde girl in white with a pony tail. I suddenly realized I had already changed the storyline, but I was still gald that Marle and Crono had shown up at Gato's but then I remembered my Dad's sword.

"My sword!" I said. "Did one of you happen to see my sword?!"

"No, I'm sorry, but I didn't see any sword around there. Did you, Marle?" answered Crono.

"Nope. Sorry, Crono."

"Wait, Crono never spoke in the game!" I muttered under my breath.

"Hey, what did you say?" asked Crono.

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all."

He squinted at me knowing exactly what I said, but not admitting it.

"Oh, um... I need to get back to the fair and I think you do, too, Crono," I said.

He looked confused about something until I whispered, "Lucca." THen he said, "Oh, yeah! Marle, remember? We were about to go see Lucca's newest invention!"

"Yeah, I remember! hey mister, you want to come, too? By the way, what's your name?"

"The name's..." I considered whether to tell them my name was Joe or one of my other names. Since I didn't think I'd be there long I decided on my S.C.A. name, "Hugh 'the Weird.' and yes, I would like to come, thanks for the invite, Marle."

We left the inn and I ran up to the square with Crono and Marle following close behind. I stopped running when I got to the entrance and I asked Crono if I could borrow some gold. I told him not to worry because I would pay him back later. He handed me the gold and I ran over to Melchior.

"Buy something from Melchior the sword smith?" he asked.

"Yeah, I need to buy a long sword. Your cheapest one if possible."

"Oh. Well, I happen to have this old blade that I don't have any use for. Take it. On the house."

"Thank you, Melchior. I shall use this blade and any others I find to save countless lives." He looked at me funny because there were no wars going on. I then whispered to him, "From the past to the future I shall save the live of many. Especially yours, Guru of Life." I then walked away, leaving a very bewildered Melchoir wonder ing what I was talking about. "Okay, I'm ready! Oh, and Crono here's your gold back. He gave me an old sword for free."

"Onto the exhibit!" I exclaimed. We all dashed to the back of the square where the Telepod exhibit was.

"welcom ladies and gentlemen to the Super Dimension Warp, invention of my beautiful daughter, Lucca!" Taban announced just as we entered.

Lucca spun around on the Telepod's left pod and started bowing to people. I thought that indeed neither the game sprite nor Akira Toriyama's artwork did her any justice.

"We will take any volunteer to test the Telepod and show that, no, it WON'T blow up under your feet," said Lucca.

Taban explained, "Just stand on this pad and you will get teleported over here." He pointed out the left and right pads respectively.

"I'll do it!" I yelled from the small crowd of people (only about 6 or 7 counting Marle, Crono, and myself). I knew I was changing the story even more, but I wanted to see just how it would feel to be broken into individual molecules, then be reassembled.

"Okay! Just step onto the platform and my father and I will do the rest," replied Lucca.

I stepped onto the pod and heard the generator warming up. I imagined, with my eyes still open, what it had looked like on the screen when Crono was transported. I felt a little wrench in my stomach and suddenly I was on the other platform, with a feeling of, _'that was it?'_

"WOW!" gasped the crowd (apparently it stilled looked cool).

I walked off the platform and Marle exclaimed, "That looks like fun! I wanna try!" and she ran over to the platform. "Wait for me to get back!" she said before stepping on the left pad.

"Are you sure you want to do this? You can always change your mind," whispered Taban.

"No, way! Throw th switch!" she replied. Taban and Lucca started to generate power for the Telepod. Marle's pendant fell to the Telepod and a bolt of electricity connected the pads. A shimmering blue sphere then appeared out of no-where. Taban and Lucca were thrown off the Telepod, as shocked as the crowd.

"What's happening!?"Marle cried when she re-materialized-inside the Time Gate, "Crono! Hugh! Help!!!"

"Marle!" Crono yelled, dashing forward as the Gate began to close. Then suddenly she was gone.

"Lucca, what happened?! Where did she go?!" yelled Taban. "All right folks, show's over," he added to the crowd.

"I don't know," muttered Lucca as everyone except Crono and I left, "the warp field seemed to be affected by her pendant."

"Crono," I said. "We need to go after her."

"But how?" he asked.

"Get her pendant off the platform and tell Taban and Lucca what we plan to do. When the sphere appears I'm going to dash into it and travel right next to you."

Crono walked over to the pendant, picked it up and stepped up onto the pad telling Lucca, "I'm going after her. Hugh over there is going to follow me."

"Brave lads," said Taban, getting into position.

"I don't know where this is going to send you, so hang on to that pendant and watch out for any monsters," cautioned Lucca.

After a bit of powering up the generator, the bolt appeared again and Crono was transported into the Gate with a look of terror on his face. I ran into the Gate and turned to face Lucca and Taban.

"Don't worry, I'll be coming after you as soon as aI figure out what went wrong," Lucca yelled.

"Heh, What, me worry?" I said with extreme confidence, because I knew what was about to happen on the other side of the Gate.

And then it closed sending Crono and I into the past.

_"The best way to plan ahead is merely to be ready for everything."   
-Flavor Text of the Myr Adapter._


	2. Help to Save the Queen!

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter Two**

**Help to Save the Queen!**

Shadic the Hedgehog

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Chrono Trigger. Squaresoft/Enix/Whatever does.

The Gate opened in the small, dead-end area in Truce Canyon. Crono and I stepped out of the Gate and looked around. The area was pretty much empty for the moment, but I knew that there were going to be Blue Imps appearing in just a couple minutes.

"Where are we?" asked Crono.

"Actually, Crono, we are in the same exact spot we were before. The question you should have asked is 'WHEN are we?' because we are now the second ever Time Travelers. Marle was the first. Welcome to the year A.D. 600. Oh... and you might want to pull out that sword of yours right about now," I answered, pulling out the Old Blade.

"Why? And just HOW do you know all this?" he replied, pulling out his wooden katana.

"I'll answer the second question later," _'much later,'_ I thought, "and the other answer will be along any second n--"

At that very moment the three Imps appeared. I instantly jumped towards the northern-most Imp and sliced it across the chest. It fell back with a fatal wound. Suddenly the wound partially closed leaving a torn shirt and a small scar. Crono, seeing this, followed my example and attacked the same Imp cutting diagonally across its head, doing quite a bit of damage. Suddenly the Imp started to disintegrate. I decided that what held Mystics together was their magic, and when they die their bodies return to molecules floating in the air.Crono and I finished off the rest of the Imps and ran as fast as we could to get out. We couldn't avoid the two Imps dropped by the birds across the bridge, but we beat them fairly quickly.

"Whew, what a rush!" said Crono. "I feel like a new person! And I just came up with this neat attack called--"

"Cyclone, I know. I came up with one named Uppercut. Oh, and the reason I know about the name was for the same reason I knew what year it is and that the Imps would attack and how I knew we were Time Travelers. So. Don't. Ask. We need to first go to the tavern, then go to the castle. I'm going to wait for Lucca after we get to the bar, er, tavern."

We walked over to the tavern, Crono still wondering how I knew all this, but not daring to ask. When we got there, we started to listen in on a couple of guards' conversation.

"I heard the Queen was found wandering up in the canyon."

"I bet she's glad to be home."

I looked over to the door and, sure enough, there was Toma, walking in the door. I dashed over to the only empty seat and sat in it. Toma stopped and muttered, "How rude..."

"Oh, I'm soeey, would you like to sit down?" I said, with a chuckle. I got up and moved aside to let him sit down.

"Hey, if you're buying I'll tell you a story," said Toma.

I told Crono to buy him a drink, 'cause he needed to hear the tale. Toma began, "The Queen went missing yesterday while visiting the cathedral to the west--"

"But we just heard they found her!" said Crono.

"What?! They found 'er? Oh, well. Thanks for the drink."

We left the tavern and Crono stopped and asked me, "Okay, WHY did we need to go in there?"

"Check the stories. The soldier said they found the Queen wandering in the canyon up north, where we came out. Toma said she went missing yesterday while visiting the western cathedral. Notice anything?" I answered.

"Yeah, the places conflict! They are at least two days apart, so she couldn't have vanished only yesterday!"

"To the castle to talk with the 'Queen,'" I answered to his confused thought. "Now! Off with yeh! Go! Go!" I ushered him off in the castle's direction and ran into the canyon again.

I stood at the entrance a short way away from the two imps kicking a balled up Roly. Or was it a Poly? Or maybe a RolyPoly? Anyway, I was waiting for Lucca to arrive through the Gate. I finally saw the blue flash of light and ran to meet her.

"Wow, I didn't think time travel would be like that! I thought it would be instantaneous," she was saying when I caught up to her.

"So what do you think of Gates?" I asked to walk out of the canyon.

"How do you know about that? I just created that name!"

"I'll show and tell when we return to your time. And only you get to see. Come on, we gotta catch up with Crono."

We ran as fast as we could to the castle, but it still took an entire day to get there from Truce Canyon. We charged in the front doors and the guards didn't stop us for some reason.

"Th-the stairway to the right," I panted. "That's where Crono's gonna be."

We reached the stairs just as Crono reached the bottom.

"Crono, i-is the girl alright? Where is she?" panted Lucca.

"She's gone..." he mumbled.

"GONE?! Whaddya mean, go-" she began.

"She vanished into thin air because Marle, or should I say: Princess Nadia (at this point Crono made an expression that could only to be described as !!!!!!) was found instead of Queen Leene. Queen Leene therefore was not saved, but instead killed. and it was because of that that Princess Nadia has ceased to exist. The only reason we are still here is because we were supposed to save the queen in the first place," I explained.

"Yeah. If I recall my history crrectly, the Queen was found in a hidden section of the Cathedral by the Queen's bodyguard and two other people. But we are three, one of us must not have helped."

"I think that's where you are wrong. In your CURRENT history books it was only two people. Then I joined the story. Check the history book when we get back and you'll find it has changed in that account"

"Then I guess it's off to the Cathedral!"

Crono, Lucca, and I all left the castle and ventured west. We got into the Catherdral and I walked up to the front and showed Lucca the coral pin.

"Hmm? What's this? Wait a minute, this is Guardia's Royal Crest!" She yelled as I pulled out my sword.

All of the nuns in the room (a total of four) walked up to us and transformed, in a flash of blue fire, into Naga-ettes. Crono drew a metal katana, while Lucca drew her gun. I promptly charged at the nearestmonster and used my Uppercut tech. I stabbed my sword into her chest and - surprising myself in the process - did a perfect backflip, slicing it in half. We finished off the rest really fast, especially once I discovered Lucca knew Flame Toss. I told Lucca and Crono how to perform Fire Whirl.

Lucca then walked off before I could warn her and said, "Whew, I'm glad that's over."

The expected Naga-ette appeared and slashed at her viciously. She jumped back with a scream and then Glenn, er, Frog fell from the ceiling and destroyed the Naga-ette.

"Lower thy guard and thou art allowing the enemy in," he murmured, sheathing his sword.

"Lucca, don't freak. It's alright, he's the Queen's bodyguard," I said quickly.

"But he's a talking FROG!"

"My guise doth not incur thy trust. I will save the Queen on mine own," Frog started to walk away.

"WAIT! You don't seem like such a bad person - frog - thing, and anyway you are the Queen's bodyguard, and we're supposed to help you save her. My name's Lucca, that's Hugh and Crono." She pointed at each of us. "So what should we call you?"

"Frog will do," he said simply. "Mayhaps a hidden entrance lurketh nigh?"

"There's a secret switch in the piano, I think. But there's bound to be some sort of music you need to play," I said.

"How couldst thou know this?" asked an amazed Frog.

"I'll tell you later."

We walked over to the piano and I found inside it a little bear thing that was a Poyozo Doll. I squeezed it and the organ music started to play. I heard a rumbling noise and a sudden slam and I looked at the north wall on the other side of the room. The secret door was opened. I lead the party through to the room where I knew Leene was being held captive. Of course, I did pick up the "secret Naga-ette Bromide."

"Prepare-" began Yakra.

"Yakra!" I yelled when we entered the room. "It's time for you to die! Shed your false form of the chancellor and fight!" As I said the word 'fight' I drew my sword. It was one I found along the way, so it was stronger than my other one.

"Move out of harm's way my Queen. I and my new friends hath come to rescue thee," warned Frog.

The battle with Yakra began. I opened up with my newest attack: Cross-Slash (A/N: Yes, this attack was inspired by FFVII but I got it wrong). I slashed down from the top-left, then from the top-right, and finally I cut straight down slicing Yakra a great one. Crono and Frog used their first Double Tech, X-Cut. They held their swords out in front of them and ran at Yakra and nearly cut him in half. In retaliation, Yakra used his charge attack, which was proceeded by a growl of "Droooo....," and slammed us all into the ground. Lucca tried to make him sleep, but he was too strong. I yelled for Lucca to Flame Toss my sword and I performed Cross-Slash. Not only was he cut up, but the wounds were instantly cauterized so they couldn't heal. Suddenly I was thrown back by a slam from Yakra's claw, which was accompanied by a flash of light. After several more flashes his body began to disintegrate. He was finally dead.

I said, "We are finished here. Let us free the REAL chancellor and head for the castle." Everyone looked at me questioningly until I walked over to the left chest. I kicked it open and the chancellor popped out, all tied up. I cut his bonds and he started to rant and rave about being locked up. Until he saw the Queen, that is.

"Oh, my Queen! As you can see I am unharmed!" he said hurriedly.

"Well, shall we return to the castle?" said the Queen.

The trip back to the castle was amazingly easy. Apparently every Mystic in the building sensed Yakra's death and fled. We took the day-long trek to the castle as quickly as we could. We got there faster than we should have.

"My lord King," muttered Frog, Bowing. "Thy Queen hath been rescued."

"Thank you. All of you. It pleases me to know that there are people who can destroy the fiendish troops of Magus," he replied.

"But I have failed my Queen, and shamed myself." Before anyone could stop him he turned and hopped quickly out of the throne room.

"Poor man. He was turned into a frog by Magus soon after his best friend vanished," said the Queen. "But I was just wondering: where is the girl that was mistaken for me?"

"Oh! Crono, I almost forgot about Princess Nadia! Come on, wherever she vanished she'll be reappearing there!" I said, stealing Lucca's lines.

We ran up to the Queen's chambers and saw an amazing sight: you could probably imagine something shatter into thousands of pieces, right? Well this was the same process, only in reverse.

"Welcome back, Princess Nadia!" cried Lucca.

Marle paid no attention what-so-ever to Lucca and myself, but did see Crono. "Crono! I was so scared! I was in a place that was cold and dark. Is that what it's like...to die?" she whispered.

"I wouldn't know, Your Majesty. But I have a feeling it was not death, but nonexistance. For this is the world of time travel and your ancestor was nearly killed by Yakra and his cronies. If Queen Leene had been killed , you would never have existed in the first place. So you ceased to exist until the Queen' guardian and the three of us saved her," I replied.

"H-how did you know I was the princess?" she asked, probably still shaken from non-existence.

"Well...then...what should we do know?" asked Crono.

"Head back to the canyon, then home," I answered.

We started out to leave, but ran into Frog on the way out. He looked at Marle closely and said, "'Tis true, thou doth bearest a strong resemblance to the Queen." and he hopped off.

"Froggy," Lucca muttered, "you weren't such a bad guy, either."

We walked out of the castle and went to Truce Canyon. We fought a couple of Mystics, but they were cake compared to Yakra. Finally, we reached the Gate.

"Okay, how do we get home?" asked Marle.

"Simple, Princess... I mean MArle, that is what you'd rather be called, right?" I began.

"Yeah."

"Well, Marle, we just have to use one of Lucca's best inventions: the Gate Key!"

Lucca pulled out the key with a flourish and pointed it at the point where the Gate was hovering. Closed it looked like just a point of light, but it opened with a quiet sound, like 'voosh,' or something to that effect, and sat there almost visibly waiting for us to enter.

"This is a Time Gate," explained Lucca. "It leads to the same spot on the planet, but in a different century. Most Gates are highly unstable, but the Gate Key allows us to use them as we please!"

"Lucca, you're a genius!" exclaimed Marle.

"Ain't it the truth! Er... um... I mean..."

"Enough with the false modesty. I would trade my royal ancestry for your genius in a heartbeat!"

"From what I've heard about royal life, that wouldn't be a very fair bargain," I put in. "But can we please head for the year 1000 now?"

"Not until we hear what you've heard about 'royal life,'" growled Marle.

"Lesse, Shut up in the castle forever, forced to go to classes you don't want or need," I counted off on my fingers, "other people choosing what you're going to wear the next day, the chef always making disgusting tasting dishes claiming they're for your heal-"

"Alright already! Yes, you're right about those things, and there are a few others you probably know. Let's go, I'm tired and want to get some rest back home."

We all stepped into the Gate when I suddenly worried about the Conservation of Time Theorem, but it was too late. We were already gone.

_"Oh lookie: a basement,"   
-Yusuke Urameshi, Yu Yu Hakusho_


	3. Save Crono!

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter Three**

**Save Crono!!!**

Shadic the Hedgehog

**Disclaimer:** If I owned CT, Chrono Cross would've been better. Epecially the battle system.

Surprisingly enough, we all arrived at Leene's Square, rather than the End of Time. I tried to figured out why, but my only theories were that the Conservation of Time Theorem no longer existed, or the number of people allowed was increased.

"Yay! We're home!" crien Marle.

"Yep. Hey, Crono, be a gentleman and take Marle home," said Lucca.

"Why don't you all come over for supper?" suggested Marle.

"Well, there's something that I'd like to do. Hugh, will you accompany me?"

"Sure," I replied.

"Okay, then! You'll be missing out!" said Marle, as she and Crono left for the castle as I wondered what Lucca was up to.

"So," she started, "You were going to show me how you knew everything that was going to happen when we got back, remember?"

"Oh. Right. We'll need to go to Gato's area for me to show you, and I hope the Gate Key will work onthe type ofGate I came through."

We headed off to Gato's area and got there quickly. I saw the little floating sphere where the Gate had closed, and a little puddle of water of what was probably left over snow from when I came over.

"Okay, why are we here?" asked Lucca.

"Can't you see the closed Gate over there?" I asked back.

"No."

"Then hand me the Gate Key and I'll open the Gate, since I can see it."

She handed over the Gate Key and I pointed it at the closed Gate and pushed the button. The head began to spin and a small beam of light flew out and touched the center of the Gate. It opened like a Time Gate and Lucca stared wide-eyed.

"What kind of a Gate is this?"

"A Universe Gate. It leads to my world. There, this place is but a game. One which I have beaten many times, and therefore know the story. Would you like to visit my place for a while? I'd like to get a few things anyway."

"Yes! Yes! Of course!"

We stepped into the Gateway which promptly closed behind us. I traveled through the swirl of blue, purple, and black with Lucca by my side. We came out of the Gate in my driveway, where pretty much nothing had changed. It was still night, too.

"This is where you live?" asked Lucca, looking slightly nauseous.

"Yep. That's my house. I'd like to show you something inside," I answered back.

We entered the house and I showed her the computer, told her how it works, and what to do to play Chrono Trigger (I have the Emulator and ROM). Then I went into our upstair library (once my room, and my sisters' before that) and picked up a few books I liked: The Lord of the Rings Series, including the Hobbit and Silmarillion; The Great Book of Amber; The Visual Guide to Castle Amber; the Dawn of Amber Series; Firebird; and Burning Brightly (quite a pile of books, huh?). I also picked up my CD player and car plug. I got a few CDs to listen to as well, mostly soundtracks.

I walked out to see Lucca handling the computer like an expert. She was already in the castle in AD 600 after beating Yakra (She used the Turbo button as well as all the cheats).

"After you get to the point where left I would like you to shut it down and join me outside. I'd like to show you my car."

"Okay."

I checked my pocket for the key to my car, which I had named the Aeon (one of my names for the Epoch in CT) and put the books in the back seat. A couple minutes later, Lucca came outside and asked me what I was doing.

"Getting ready to go."

"But what are you in?"

"My car, the Aeon. We use cars here to get from place to place quickly. I plan to open the Gate and then drive through it. Then afterwards we can fix it up so thatit can open Gates itself."

"Alrighty then, let's get going. Why did you want me to stop where we split up?"

"Didn't want you to see the future, could change it in unpredictable ways. I'm just going to reveal it in small bits throughout our adventure."

"Ah." There was an odd tone to Lucca's voice, but I decided to ignore it.

We got into the Aeon and I turned the key. Lucca opened the Gate and we headed in. It was an odd sensation going through the Gate in a car. I felt like I wasn't being affected by the Gate travel when I knew I was. Kinda like when you're wearing rubber gloves in water: it feels like your hand's getting wet, but you know it isn't.

We emerged in Leene's Square at sunset, just when people were heading home. I looked back to see the Gate close and, amazingly, vanish completely. Everyone we passed turned and stared as we drove by.

"Um so how is it going to be fixed up?" Lucca asked when we got about halfway to her house.

"Integrate the technology that you used for the Gate Key and put in a button so that we can activate it without having getting out," I answered. "Oh, and we have a three day time limit to get this done."

"Why is there a time limit?"

"Bit of the future, well I guess it's the present really, coming up: Crono has been arrested for, and I quote, 'Premeditated Abduction of Royalty.' He was most likely proclaimed Not Guilty and going to be confined for three days, but the Chancellor lied and told the prison executive that he was to be executed in three days. We need to get there before he's executed. I just hope he doesn't decide to break out in the meantime."

"I see. So we'll need to hurry."

"Yes. We'll probably need to hook up a rather elaborate system for this to work, but I think it will work."

During the remaining days we worked on fixing the car up. Well, Lucca did most of the work, while I fetched tools and learned a few things about my car. Taban came out every once in a while with food and we ate it while working. At around five in the morning in the last day, we pulled out and stormed Guardia Forest. I was ripping through the leaves and screeched to a halt just out of sight of the castle doors.

"Let's go! Got your Zonker-38 ready?"

"And set!"

"But keep it holstered until we get into the jail, or we'll probably never be let in."

"Okay."

We walked up to the castle and amazingly they didn't even search us or take my sword when we entered (Baka," I muttered (A/N: Baka is Japanese for idiot)). We walked into the jail area, knocked out the executive, and started towards the execution room, knocking out anyone we met who wasn't in a cell. Lucca knocked people out with her tranquilizer darts and I used my sword, sheathed, hitting them on the side of the head or in the neck. I made sure to collect all the mid-tonics before we continued.

"I can't quite remember the right passages to take to get to Crono," I said.

"That's all right, I know the way," replied Lucca. I found this puzzling because the jail hadn't existed in her original timeline.

We were getting to the execution room just as the soldier asked Crono, "Any last words?"

We never heard a reply. That's because we burst into the room and I shouted, "jail break!" I proceeded to strike the executioner and caught the rope he was holding, which was attached to the guillotine's blade. Lucca was hitting everyone else with darts.

"I'm glad you got the executioner," said Lucca, checking her gun. "I just ran out of darts!"

"Well, could you free Crono? It's just that my arm's getting tired and I might drop the blade," I groaned.

She knelt down and blasted off the lock with her normal gun, Crono jumped out and I let my hand relax. We ran out of that room and I stopped for a moment to free Fritz, by chopping the lock off. He said thanks and asked how to get out. I told him to just follow us then find a way after that. We raced back through the dungeon until we got back to the executive's office.

"Okay guys," I started, "here's the plan: Fritz, you hang back until I shout 'come on!' Crono and Lucca, you and I will go up the stairs and destroy the newest guard, known as the Dragon Tank. Lucca, it's a machine so your Hypno Wave won't work on it, neither will Fire Whirl, nor Flame Toss until we destroy the head. We can only just attack fast and destroy it before it can destroy us."

We executed the plan quickly. The Dragon Tank was big, but we had become strogng from our sojourn to the past. We all started attacking the head. Crono and I used Slash-Cut, in which he threw his Slash attack and I jumped on it pointing my sword directly at the head. I stabbed it and back-flipped away with Uppercut just before Slash got to it. Lucca fired off a powerful shot to the same spot and it exploded into infinitesimal (A/N: lots and lots of really tiny) pieces. We then started using Fire attacks on it, so the swords could slice through heat-softened skin. I went after the wheels, while Crono and Lucca attacked all of it. Crono and I then hopped onto its back and stabbed it up to the hilts. We executed a terrific slash as we pulled out the swords and jumped off.

"Come on, Fritz!" I shouted. The Dragon Tank started to shiver and bolts of electricity struck everything they could, which made me glad I was wearing rubber-soled boots. Fritz ran out just before Yakra XIII (Who else could this lying Chancellor be?) and a couple of soldiers ran out to fix the tank. Unfortunately for them, there was a small explosion underneath the tank and a hole appeared in the bridge. Yakra XIII and the soldiers grabbed hold of the bridge and each other to keep from falling.

"You won't get away with this!" screamed Yakra XIII as we waalked on him. I made sure to stomp on his hands especially hard. As I reached the other side of the people-bridge, I said to Yakra, "We already did, false one. Let go and meet your ancestor."

"What are you talking about?" whispered the man I was talking to, wide-eyed. Suddenly, there was a large explosion under the bridge as the Dragon Tank finished blowing up and a giant shockwave rocked the castle.

"They'll know we're coming now. So start running!" yelled Lucca.

We got to the bottom of the stairs down and all the soldiers were yelling, "the prisoners are escaping!" as we were trying to get away. We reached the entrance and I shoved Fritz out the door just before we became surrounded.

"Stop this at aonce!" yelled Marle from the top of the stairs.

"Not so fast, Princess! Let's hear what the King has to say about this!" yelled the Chancellor running into the room. I began wondering how he could have gotten to the throne room so quickly, and why his hands didn't have footprints on them. The King began to walk into the room, nut I spoke before he could.

"Your Majesty, there has been no crime committed by Crono. In fact, he SAVED the Princess from harm! ...Sir."

"Then explain why you were gone for four days!" countered the King. "And why we were going to execute him if he wasn't guilty!"

"Theat's not true, Your Majesty. Crono was proclaimed 'Not Guilty' by the jury AND judge, plus when he got to the jail the executive was unaware that an execution was to take place. It was the Chancellor that said, and I qoute, 'This man is a traitor to the crown. He has been found guilty and you must carry out his sentence.'"

"You Majesty! The boy coudn't know about such things. The only people who would know what was said in that room would have been a couple of guards, the executive, the criminal, and myself. Therefore he is obviously a liar!" The Chancellor had me there.

"This is true. I order that the execution sentence be lifted, but you will all have to be put in solitary confinement for seven days for jail break and assistance, and be fined a million Gold for destroying a valuable piece of equipment. And this does add on to what you already had to serve, boy." the King directed this last comment to Crono.

"But Daaad, these are my friends we're talking about here," pleaded Marle.

"The throne comes before your personal wishes, Nadia, and I see you've picked up strange ideas venturing outside."

"I didn't 'pick up' anything! It's called Common Sense! I despise you, I'm leaving!" She tore off the dress she had on to reveal the jumpsuit she had worn to the fair. She then ran down to meet us and we all ran out the door.

"Quickly! To the Aeon!" I yelled as I heard the Chancellor scream at the guards to chase us.

"The _what_?" asked Crono.

"It's an amazing invention from where Hugh is from," explained Lucca. "We modified it, too, so now it can open Gates." It was as we reached the car that I realized that I was now trapped here, and should probably tell everyone my story before they get way too suspicious of me. I got in the car and everyone else followed suit. I turned the key...and nothing happened.

"Frell (A/N: This is a word from Farscape I use to replace most swear words), this isn't good!" I frantically searched for the problem only to discover I had left it in drive. I pushed the brake, put it in park and started the Aeon. It roared to life and we ripped down the path to the dead end.

"What's going on?!" cried Marle.

"We're getting away, that's what!"

We got close to the dead end and I pushed the Gate button. It opened up and we drove straight in. I imagined the chancellor's reaction to the car as we traveled to the future.

_"Free that which was never caged"  
-flavor text of the AEther Spellbomb_


	4. The Future

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter Four**

**The Future**

Shadic the Hedgehog

**Disclaimer:** You know the drill, I don't own CT.

We came roaring out of the other end of the Gate, only to slam into the door of Bangor Dome. I had severe whiplash from the encounter.

"Yeouch!! What just happened!?" screamed Marle.

"We just slammed into a door... My neck _really_ hurts... and we need to get outta here. So could somebody get that door open? I can't just drive through it," I answered.

Lucca had me back up as she rolled down her window. She took careful aim at the door with her gun, and blasted it right off its hinges.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," she replied.

I began driving north towards Lab 16 and put disc two of my Chrono Trigger soundtrack into my CD player. The disc started with the original Gate sfx then began playing the 2300 Overworld theme. When we entered the Labs I pushed the button to play that theme.

"you guys can read any of the books if ya want. We've got a long journey."

We only encountered a few problems as we drove through the Labs. The only things were the Shadows: they would plaster themselves to my windshield and we'd have to stop and get Lucca to burn them off with Flame Toss.

We reached Arris Dome and I parked the Aeon. We got out and walked into the Dome's missing doors. The inner dome was not right through those doors, but rather there was a debris filled hallway lined by destroyed houses and still-rotting corpses (N/A: I know 301 years later there would only be skeletons, but I have my reasons) Marle had closed her wyes and grabbed onto Crono so she didn't have to look. I felt like vomiting, myself. When we finally entered the inner dome, I threw up over the side of the catwalk and heard a splat and a squeal as it hit a rat.

"That was disgusting! What could have done that?" cried Marle.

"I have a feeling we'll be finding out soon..." I wheezed.

"Do you think it still lives here?" asked Crono.

"I doubt it. I really do." I replied.

We started walking along the path to the center of the room. When I saw the first person, I could hardly believe they actually lived this way all the time. I heard Marle sob when she saw a sleeping child on the floor. It did look like she was dead, but I knew better. I walked up to Doan and tapped his shoulder.

"Who are you?" he asked. He must not have been sleeping with everyone else, because otherwise his heart could've gone out.

"We came from the ruins to the west," Marle replied.

Even though that didn't really answer his question, Doan yelled, "What! Everyone wake up! We've got people who've crossed the ruins!"

"What?!" "So there ARE people who can beat up those freaky mutants!" "Who are they?" Everyone was speaking at once, until Doan held up his hand.

"My name is Doan, I am the descendant of this dome's manager, and you are?"

"My name is Crono, this is Marle, that's Lucca, and the other guy is Hugh," Crono replied.

"Have you guys got anything to eat? I'm starving!" complained Marle.

"We're all starving, too. The only food is down that ladder. But everyone who has gone to find it has never returned..." intoned Doan.

"Well guys, shall we be heroes all over again?" Lucca asked.

"Yeah!" we cheered.

"What? don't tell me you're going down below!" interrupted Doan.

"Yes we are! We want you to live better than this!" I yelled (A/N: I can imagine C,M, and L sweat-dropping). "And don't worry," I added. "we'll come back alive."

We descended the long ladder to the basement of the Dome. We walked up to the blue-glowing consoles as Marle noted the gaping hole in the floor. On each side were some projections that could fit together. Lucca went and looked at the hole, then the consoles.

"Don't bother," I said. "they need a password we don't yet have, and the other path is currently open."

"Yeah, you're right," she mumbled. I thought I could see her thinking 'wait, he said "yet!" That means we'll be able to get there eventually!' But what did I know?

We walked through the door and on the other side was a room where the floor had fallen through; all that was left was a bunch of intersecting, rusted I-beams that were wide enough for one person at a time to walk normally.

"They look sturdy enough," I said.

"Let's just hope they are," Crono replied.

We started across the I-beams, it was hard not to think of them as rafteers, when we could see the room below. Then we saw the rat.

"Just ignore it, it's only a rat pretending to be a statue," I waved it off.

"But what about the note on its side?" asked Marle.

"Just a meaningless warning, come on."

We continued to the guardian room, where the alarm sounded and the Guardian was descending from the ceiling.

"Attack the bits on either side first," I advised. "If you hit the robot you'll only get hurt worse."

Crono and I got rid of the bits and then assaulted Guardian. Throughout the entire thing Lucca superheated the metal skin and Marle was closing our wounds with her Aura. There was a programmed voice saying, "Bre...a...k......d......o.........w.........n............" coming from Guardian. It began to fall apart until it completely dissolved.

"Man, I'm tired," said Marle. I handed her an Ether.

"Expect to be tired all the time, our journey has just begun," I walked into the broken refrigerator room, confusing Marle. (A/N: I confuse others easily, ne?) She followed then gagged and squeezed her nose.

"Eeew, someding reeks!"

Lucca nd I inspected some crates and I stole another line, "The refrigeration must have failed: everything's rotten."

"Hey," said Crono suddenly. "who's that?"

I had almost forgotten the man who had died in here. We walked up and stood next to him.

"He must have been the only one to get past the guard bot," murmered Lucca.

"Must've passed away long ago..." said Crono.

"Here, look: a seed... and a note!" announced Marle. Which makes you wonder why Marle was looking so closely at a dead guy.

"The rat is not a statue, it knows the sercrets of the dome and how to speak! Catch it!" Lucca read over Marle's shoulder.

"Okay,k we're going to try catching that rat, there might be more food over through that other door," I said.

"Hey, good idea!"

We left the broken fridge and the man's body, taking the seed with us, and walked out to the floorless room. As soon as we got in the door, Marle stopped and pointed at the rat, shouting, "Look! There it is!" Even though this was said very loud, the rat didn't run. I led evryone back into the guard room and told them a plan you could never do in the game.

"When we chase the rat I want only two of us to run after it. When it reaches a door it will hide off to the side andwait for you to go through. Then it will come back out and you can chase it back here. So we're going to get it in a pincer trap!"

We executed the plan with Marle and Lucca running one way and Crono and I waiting behind to catch it on the return. The plan worked and the rat told us to push what buttons on the consoles. We let it go and ran to put in the code. The hole closed up and we dashed through the door. We snuck past the robots and went through the door to the main computer room.

"Wow... Look at the size of this computer! It's bigger than I thought it would be!" cried Lucca. She winced. "Whoops..."

"Hey! I told you to stop where we split up! You peeked ahead! How far?!" I yelled.

"Um......... The End of Time," she mumbled.

"Well, it's too late to change any of that, so I guess you know what to do here."

She walked up to the computer and started tapping buttons, while I explained to Crono and Marle thai I would explain in good time. The computer displayed a large satillite picture of the world before it zoomed in on Proto Dome and put some technical data around it.

"That would be Proto Dome," said Lucca, "reading" the words off the screen.

"Hey," said Marle, "what's this big button for?"

She walked up to it and pushed the button. The screen suddenly blinked into the words, "A.D. 1999. Visual Record of the Day of Lavos." We all watched as the picture of the terrible destruction rolled on. I whispered, horrified, to Lucca, "It's a lot worse on this side of the screen, isn't it?"

She nodded slowly, awed by the power and terrible destruction.

I looked over at Marle and Crono and then saw them sobbing into each other, holding tightly. The movie ended and the computer shut down, out of power after 301 years, probably had a nuclear battery.

"1999," murmered Malre. "That's our future...? NO! I refuse to believe it! Crono! Hugh! Lucca! We must stop this! Right? RIGHT?"

"We shall defeat this evil called Lavos and give these people a better future!" I yelled.

"We must destroy it and save the world!" cried Crono.

"The beast should never have existed! We shall wipe it out!" screamed Lucca.

"Let's do it!" We all yelled together. We ran out of the room, hacking up robots and bugs until we got back to the main chamber. Doan looked up, surprised, and yelled, "You're back! What did you discover?"

"Well..." began Marle. "This is our future!"

"What!!!!" cried everyone, running towards us.

"We also found this," I said, holding out the seed. I glared at Marle for revealing that before I revealed the seed.

"A seed?" asked a guy to my left. "What good's a seed?"

"This seed is the only thing you guys have left! Don't just throw it away and suffer even more!" yelled Crono at the startled crowd.

"This seed is the only piece of food inthis place that's not rotten, but if you are patient and wait you could have enough food to feed the world and then some!" I told the man.

"But... hey!" started Doan. "You do look different then us." he looked back and forth at us and the natives of the time.

Marle replied, "I think it's because we're healthy!"

"He...al...thy, I like the sound of that!"

"By the way, do you happen to know the way to Proto Dome?" asked Marle.

"You need to get to Prtot Dome, eh? Well you have to pass through lab 32 before you can get there, but there is a fast way through it! I have an old Jet Bike I used to ride that could get you across in a jiffy!"

"Don't worry!" said Lucca. "We've got a car!"

"The Aeon won't get us past the race with Johnny, though," I replied.

"Godd point."

"Then here's the key!" And Doan handed it to me.

Waving goodbye, we started to go through the door. Remembering the sickening rot on the other side, we closed our eyes until we felt the harsh air of the future on our skin. When we opened our eyes, we saw that the Aeon was covered in Shadows that were accompanied by three Mutants.

"Looks like we've got another fight!" said Crono. We all pulled out our weapons: Marle hade a Lode (some metal native to this world) Crossbow; Crono, a Lode Sword (katana); Lucca, a Plasma gun; and me, a greatsword I named Apocalypse. I found it in the computer room when the movie for Lavos played. (A/N: it looks basically like Cloud's Apocalypse sword, but thinner)

Lucca and Crono started with a Flame Whirl that destroyed all the Shadows. Marle and I went after two of the mutants. This battle was extremely tough. We had avoided the Mutants of the Labs with great difficulty, barely making it thanks to the car. I had not believed us powerful enough to fight the Mutants yet. This battle proved me wrong. As Apocalypse sliced through the siddle of my opponent I heard it make a horrid screaming noise and it lashed a tongue at me, which started sucking my blood. I roared like a dragon and sliced the tongue off. In major pain and only hlf-healed the Mutant turned and started running away.

"THOU SHALT NOT RUN FROM ME!" I yelled, surprising myself. I felt an odd energy run through my sword and into my arm, I performed Cross-slash, but instead of hitting it like it usually did, waves of fiery red energy flew from the tip and sliced through the Mutant. I sheathed my sword and it fell apart.

Marle had just finished off her Mutant and was helping Crono and Lucca fight the last one. I still had the odd energy, which felt like it was burning, so I yelled, "Get out of the way!" and unsheathed my sword again. They promptly jumped aside and I sliced through the Mutant as before, it blew up when the final wave struck it. I sheathed my sword and got into the Aeon. (A/N: LIMIT BREAK!!!)

"What just happened?" demanded Crono.

"The Mutant was going to run from the fight it started. I despise such cowardice," I answered. "But don't worry my anger has passed." I started the Aeonn and noted, "THe Aeon's nearly out of gas." When no one got in I asked, "Why aren't you getting in?"

"You said the car was out of gas."

"I said NEARLY out of gas! It'll probably be enough to get us to the labs and then we'll take the Jet bike from there."

"Oh." Everyone got in and I floored it all the way to Lab 32. The enginge died just as we entered.

"What'll we do with the stuff in the car?" asked Lucca.

"I'll leave them in the charge of the one who lives here.," I replied.

"Who?" asked Crono.

"He'll arrive in a few seconds, so let's ready the Jet Bike," answered Lucca. We went to the cockpit of the Jet bike and I inserted the key. I heard a siren and we headed for a more open area. Four robots showed up and everyone was about to pull out their weapons when I said, "Stand down. The Keeper of the Labs is nere." _'Heeeeeere's JOHNNY!'_ I laughed inwardly.

There was a raoring noise as loud as a V8 engine and Johnny the motorcycle bot flew in at top speed. The four robots we were prepared to fight suddenly said, "It's... the MAN!"

"Uh, huh," said Johnny, sounding like Elvis. "You low lifes can call me Johnny. You, over there!" he pointed at us. "You know how to drive that thing?"

"I think I might," I said. "But could you help me refresh my memory?"

"Of course!" said Johnny and he launched into a lengthy speech about how to drive the Jet Bike. "Now that you know how to drive it, you wanna race?"

"Yes," I answered. "but first I wish to ask you a favor. Could you keep watch over my car and its contents? It's been attacked by Shadows and Mutants several times since our arrival."

"If you can beat me I will!"

"Ono on one? So that I can be more comfortable?"

"You're on!" I leapt into the Jet Bike and turned the key. Johnny, in motorcycle form, and I eased up to the entrance of the old highway and waited for the start.

"3! 2! 1! GO!!" yelled a robot. Lucca fired her gun in the air and Johnny and I took off. He started in the lead but I pulled ahead about half way through and stayed there until around a mile from the end. I pushed the button for the rocket boosters and flew past him, crossing the finish line. Then we turned around and headed beck for the entrance to tell everyone the news.

"You did it!" "Way to go!" "Yeah! Ha, ha!" shouted my friends as we told them the news. Johnny promised to take car of my stuff until we returned for it. Everyone piled into the Jet Bike, which was a tight squeeze, with Lucca driving for the experience. We decided to leave it at the edge of the highway. We traveled to Proto Dome, fought a few robots, then rested up before moving to the back and finding Robo.

"It's a robot!" said Lucca, in mock surprise. "I'm gonna fix it!"

"But then it will attack us!" cried Marle.

"No, it won't. Robots aren't evil, just the people who program them."

"You pity them don't you?" Lucca didn't answer her.

A couple hours later, Lucca finished working on Robo. She pushed the activation button and stood back. Robo started beeping, then he jumped up and began emitting sparks! He jumped around a bit before finally regaining control of his systems.

"All Systems operational. Who are you?" He asked me, the first person he saw.

"My name is Hugh. These are my friends: Crono, Marle, and Lucca, who fixed you.

"Understood. Madam Lucca fixed me."

"Just Lucca, no 'madam,'" said Lucca.

"But that would be rude!" said Robo.

"I thought you would have programmed that out of him," I muttered to Lucca.

"Shut up," Lucca ordered me. "Listen, I hate fancy titles. Everyone else here does, too," She added to Robo.

"Positively hate 'em" grimaced Marle.

"Understood," replied Robo.

"What's you name?"

"Name? Ah, my serial number. I am R66-Y."

"No, no, no. That won't do at all. How about... umm..."

"How about Robo?" I interjected.

"Yeah that oughtta work! Your new name is Robo!"

"Storing to memory... Complete. I am Robo."

Crono suddenly spoke up, "What about the door? Marle told it wouldn't open."

Robo walked over to the door and heaved at it with all his might. "the generator has been shut off," he explained. "We will have to go to the Power Plant up north to return power, but one of us will have to stay behind to open the door. The plant requires access codes that I have stored in my memory bank."

"All right, Crono," I said. "Who's gonna stay behind?"

"Why are you asking me?" asked Crono.

"You started all this. Therefore, you are the leader of this little group. Plus, I don't like making choices that affect others."

"Okay... I don't know... Let's do some form of random selection. I can't decide."

"I may be of some assistance in this matter," interrupted Robo. "I have a random number program that can pick one of you to stay behind."

"All right, start 'er up!" exclaimed Lucca. A small, holographic image of Crono appeared and started to cycle through the four of us. It finally stopped on me a few seconds later.

"Well, I suppose I'll be staying here! Hey, Robo, if I accidentally fall asleep when the power comes back on, what should I do?"

"Here," he said. "I will create an alarm for you. It will be plugged into the power supply. Once the poewr has been returned the whole place will fill with sound, which should wake you up."

"Thanks." Robo fixed up the alarm and the others left. I had intentionally asked Robo that question so I could make up for the lack of sleep over the past few days.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! The speakers of the dome blared with the sound of the alarm.

"HOLY HELL! What a wake-up call!" I yelled upon being shaken awake by the shockwaves of sound. I quickly opened the door. The power (and thankfully the alarm) shut off again a few minutes later.

After a bit more waiting, Lucca, Crono, and Marle walked into the dome carting Robo behind them.

"Robo!" I said in feigned surprise. "What happened to him?!"

"A few of his brothers attacked him. We dismantled them and saved Robo. Now I have to fix him again," "explained" Lucca.

After a few minutes, Lucca presented Robo as good as new, I had learned a few things about robots, and Crono and Marle caught up on some sleep.

"Lucca, I think you should sleep, too," I said. "You've been working really hard." Robo and I discussed some more about his time's technology, and I told Robo about leaving the Aeon and my stuff with Johnny and he proposed to retrieve the books.

"Do not worry. I just need to program a holographic message for proof of your permission. I will then return quickly," said Robo.

"Thanks, I fear what could happen to paper in this atmosphere," We recorded the message and he took off fo rthe Labs. I only had to wait a few minutes before he returned, laden with books and electronics.

"Wow," I commented. "Robo, yer fast. The only things I can think of faster are a couple of beings called Sonic and Shadow the Hedgehog, from som ebooks I didn't bring, who can travel at the speed of sound."

"Are these two organic beings?" asked Robo.

"Shadow was genetically engineered, and Sonic was born normally."

"Fascinating." I laughed and made some Star Trek jokes (I actually had to explain them shudder)

"Yaaaawn. Hey, there..." said Crono. He woke up Marle and Lucca, then noticed Robo was carrying all the stuff from the car.

"Robo retrieved those just a few minutes ago. Shall we be off?" I asked.

"Let's go!" exclaimed Marle.

We stepped into the back room and Robo, as the newest member of the group, opened the Gate. We stepped in, and the Gate closed, then it opened, then it closed again. We were on our way to the End of Time.

_It kills with unfeeling malice_

_-Flavor text of the Nim Replica. (I'm talking about Lavos, though)_

* * *

The Supernatural aspect of this story will begin next chapter, when Joe gets his magic. BTW, My real name is Joe ;) 


	5. New Magics

Shadic: Hey there peoples! I'm going to start having Author Space conversations before and after my chapters. But first I'm going to have to get the bakazaru, taintedgump, to type replies. Oh, and a slight clear-up: although the supernatural stuff's gonna be happening here, it won't be mentioned 'til next chapter.

****

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter Five**

**New Magics**

Shadic the Hedgehog

**Disclaimer**: You get the point: CT is not mine.

We arrived at the End of Time in a small, square room with a pair of bright pillars of light on either side of the five of us. Marle stepped forward, looked around, and said, "Where... Sorry. When are we?"

"Everyone," I began.

"Welcome to the End of Time," finished Lucca.

"Dreary isn't it?" Crono mentioned.

"I would call that an understatement," commented Robo.

"Well, shall we go in?" I pointed down the narrow hallway to the main platform.

He went down the hall and Robo opened the door for the rest of us. The main platform held the expected items: A lamp post, with Gaspar leaning against it, apparently asleep, a bucket of shimmering light, a small shiny thing on a bench, a set of steps to nowhere, and Spekkio's door.

"Odd place for such an old man to live isn't it?" asked Marle.

I decided now was a better time as any to tell my tale, "While he's sleeping a have tell you guys something a little shocking. My name is really Joe, not Hugh. I don't know why I gave a false name. I guess it sounded good at the time. But anyway... I'm from another Universe. In that Universe, this whole adventure, is a game. The way I came here was through a Universe Gate, not unlike the Time Gates, which closed permanently when I came through with Lucca, the Aeon, and all those books and stuff that were inside it. I have actually beaten the game several times, and Lucca," I glared at her. "played up to somewhere here. If you have any questions about what to do, just ask me. OH, and the old man there was banished here by Lavos."

A stunned silence ensued for about half-minute. It was broken by Crono, who said: "Sooo, what are we supposed to do now?"

I indicated the sleeping man, "Attempt to wake up Gaspar." We walked over to Gaspar and tried nearly everything to wake him.

"He's not walking, now what?" asked Marle.

"Lat's go," said Lucca.

"Go? Go when?"

Suddenly a deep, fairly imposing voice said, "Hey."

"Well, hello." I looked at Gaspar. "You certainly are a sound sleeper, we tried nearly everything to wake you."

"You must not have noticed I was already awake, and simply listening in," He grinned. "Interesting story you told, thinking I couldn't hear you. Actually I already knew, I saw you arrive from this station. I had Spekkio figure out your magic type, why don't you go see him now?"

"Hey!" yelled Marle. "Why are we here in the first place?!"

"Oh, right. You are here at the End of Time because, as the Conservation of Time Theorem states: 'if more than four intelligent beings attempt to use a Gate at the same time, then they end up at the time period of least resistance.' Which is here. Or, in case the Gates here become inaccessible, the Beginning of Time (A/N: I got this idea from Cain, see my profile for his stories)."

"Okay, I guess it's time to see Spekkio. I didn't think we'd see him this quickly," said Lucca. The five of us went into the door behind Gaspar. I saw a little, blue beast with hair running from the edge of his forehead to the base of his spine.

"Hey," whispered Crono. "What's with the Kilwala in the middle of the room?"

"Huh? I see a blue Ogre. That must be Spekkio."

"Hey!" called Spekkio. "I'm Spekkio, Master of War! I see lots of battles from here. Say, how do I look to you? Strong? Or weak?"

"Strong," I said.

"Weak," answered Crono and Marle.

"Strong," Lucca agreed with me.

"Weeell, let's put it this way: if you're strong, I look strong. If you're weak, I look weak. But enough of that, time to give you magic!" Spekkio went on. "There was once thought to be only four Elements of Magic: Lightning, Fire, Water, and Shadow. But I've discovered two more types: Earth and Wind. Kid with the funky hairdo, you're Lightning; ponytail, you're Water; Glasses, you've got Fire magic; and Mr. Otherworldly, youuu... I'm actually not sure about. We'll let the magic decide what you are. 'Bot, sorry, but you don't have magic."

"Lemme guess," I said. "We've gotta walk around the room three times."

"Actually, No. You don't have since the old guy said you're after Lavos, the son of a worm," replied Spekkio.

"Thank you, sir" Robo bowed.

"IPSO! FACTO! MEENIE! MOE! MAGICO!!!" screamed Spekkio.

Lightning flew out of the darkness above and struck Crono. His eyes flared white for a few sconds before fading back into their nromal green. Then a geyser suddenly erupted under Marle's feet, and when it went down, her eyes were changing from a dark blue and she was amazingly dry. Lucca was then surrounded by flames which soon died down, she had red eyes for a few seconds.

Then, I was surrounded by flames like Lucca, but it didn't seem the same. I was feeling the flames burn me, but somehow I knew I wasn't actually being hurt. I still ended up feeling like burnt Spam when they died down.

"There, ya got magic," Spekkio said. "Wanna try it out?"

"No thanks, gotta save the world!" replied Marle, cheerfully. We walked out of Spekkio's place and Gaspar said, "I'm sure you'd like to go running back and forth through time, but first you need to return to the year 1000. The trip'll help you figure stuff out."

We walked back to the Gate Room before I noticed we still numbered five. I mentioned this to Crono.

"Good point. Robo, I don't think people in my time period will like you very much. You'd better stay here," he decided.

"Let's do it!" yelled Marle. We all stood on the edges of the Pillar-gate as I activated the Gate Key. We took off into the murky darkness of the End of Time. Then we were headed through the blue and purple swirls of Gate travel.

_"Your ticket to the future is always blank"  
-Vash the Stampede, Trigun._


	6. The Magic Village

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter Six**

**The Magic Village**

Shadic the Hedgehog

**Disclaimer:** I own CT! YES! Oh, wait. I'm dreaming...

When the Gate travel ended, we were surrounded by darkness and I was pinned aginst something very much like a wall, by something that felt alot like another person.

"Um, guys? Whoever's closest to the closeet door, could you open it?" I said. I heard a muffled "We're in a closet?", a bit of banging around, and then, "Ah, there it is!" What I could see got brighter as the door was opened and we all fell out.

"Who are you and what were you doing in our closet!" yelled a squeaky voice.

"Yeah! Who do you think you are? Coming in and out of our closet at all times of the day!" reprimanded another.

"What are you talking about?" whispered the first voice. "This is the first time something like this has ever happened!"

"I just thought it sounded good."

"Uh, 'scuse me," I said getting up. "I'm terribly sorry about the whole closet thing, but there's a temporal anomaly in there we need to keep using. So that we can save the world and degrade your crappy dictator-mayor."

"Reeeeallly," the first Imp, with brown skin, rolled his eyes. "So yer what? Time travelers?"

"That is correct," spoke Crono. "And it is highly imperitive that we occasionally requisition the use of your wardrobe in our quest to save the future from the Apocalypse." I was slightly stunned by this amazing use of words from someone I didn't know could talk a few weeks ago, and so was everyone else. By the former, not the latter.

"Um, o-okay, s-sure. You can use our closet..." said the other Imp, a blue one.

"What's wrong with you?" asked the Brown Imp. "By the way, good speech, are you emissaries from the King of Guardia, too?"

"No, no, no. He's just another human being," I replied quickly."But he will make for an excellent King," I added under my breath.

"You should see the old man to the west, he's really nice," tossed in the Blue Imp.

"Right, we'll do that," concluded Lucca. "If we want to make it before nightfall we should get going." We headed for the door and Marle just had to speak up.

"Why are you being so nice? I thought Mystics hated humans."

"Our motto's forgive and forget, but not many others seem to agree with us," answered the Brown Imp.

"Oh, okay! Bye!" Marle waved cutely and followed us out the door. As we were walking into the sunset, Marle asked me something odd, "Hey Joe, what happened to you when Spekkio gave you your magic?"

"What do you mean?" I replied.

"What do you mean, what do I mean?"

"The only freaky thing I noticed about my magic was that I felt like I was being burnt to death, but I could tell I wasn't being hurt."

"That's odd. My magic just felt nice and warm," said Lucca, puzzled.

"I felt a tingly, but the lightning bolt didn't hurt," added Crono.

"And mine was refreshingly cold," tossed in Marle. "But what I'm talking about was your eyes, they looked like cat eyes, except they were red, then they turned completely the colour of molten metal! And as an extra-creepy thing, there was a shade of a demonic being around you. It was about two feet taller, with a snake-like tail, and huge wings!"

"Not only that," added Lucca. "But the shade had orange, scaled skin; dark, crimson hair; and it looked at me weirdly."

"How so?" I asked. I was beginning to get freaked out, because I hadn't ssen any such shade.

"It, it almost looked like it... cared about me!" she whispered. This really scared us. A demon who cared? It was freaky. What really surprised me, though, was that it seemed to reflect my feelings, because I cared about Lucca, too.

"Erm, can we get off of theis subject? I'm getting really freaked out," said Marle, looking worried.

"Yeah," replied Crono. "Why don't we try out our magic? We might need it."

"Good idea. Let's find a place with rocks and other hard stuff," I said. "There's a cave just over there." I pointed just north of Melchior's house, which we could see by now, at a large mountain.

"How do you kno- Oh, right. Other world, game thingy, right."

"Shall we?"

"I dunno," replied Lucca. "It's getting dark. Let's just stop at Melchior's place, see if we can spend the night, THEN go to the cave."

"Okay," I shrugged. Then my brain caught up with my ears. "Hol' up. How'd you know thatit was Melchior's place?"

"He mentioned to me that he lived on the eastern continent."

"Oh."

We got to Melchior's house and he let us stay the night for free, and even supplied breakfast. We said our thanks, bought some stronger weapons, then headed north. As we approached the cave, we began seeing signs saying stuff like: "Go away!" or "Turn back or die!" or, my favorite, "Enter the Magic Cave! See amazing creatures before they eat you!" We ignored the signs and, when we entered, a pair of Henches yelled, "Death to the Mystic's Enemies!"

We didn't even bother pulling out our weapons. Instead, we had agreed earlier, that we just use magic. Lucca and Marle would take the first fight, and Crono and I would take the next. Apparently the girls already had a combo spell, because Marle froze one of them solid, followed by Lucca's Fire spell. They repeated this to the other, melting them both into oddly coloured puddles.

"Well, the Antipode attack in the first battle. That was certainly unexpected," I laughed as we continued. "Hey Crono, you got any ideas for what we could do for a combo spell?"

"Nah," he replied. "We should just hit each one on our own. Fire and Lightning are too much alike."

"Right."

We reached the next battle field and attacked immediatly. Crono raised his arms and concentrated, causing a bolt of lightning to smash into the Hench, disintegrating him in one shot. I attacked next, and I didn't like it. I concentrated the power of my magic and felt pain. A LOT of pain. Flames ripped through my skin and I screamed in agony. I concentrated all the pain and fire I could muster into a ball that I threw into the Hench. It slid in and his eyes widened. Heat began flowing out of his pores, his scars, any kind of opening between his guts and the outside world until he melted away like a snowball in Hell. I panted, shocked that my first spell was Point Flare.

"Are you okay?" asked Lucca.

"I feel like crap," I replied. "I can't believe my own spell didn't burn me into oblivion! But, as an upside, it was a frickin' Point Flare!" I sighed and stood up straighter. "It was a minor one to be sure, but Point Flare is a spell even Lavos uses! I can't wait for my second level spell!"

We moved on, fighting the occasional Jinn Bottle and Weevil, until we found the Heckran's chamber. Along the way, Crono learned Spincut (stupid name, he doesn't spin at all), Marle learned Cure, I learned a move I called Sonic Blade (I hold my sword away from me and fly past my enemy uber-fast, slicing them in two), and Lucca learned Safe, a barrier against physical attacks.

Before we entered I noticed a little, sparkling sphere outside the entrance. "What's a Save Point doing in a real world?"

"That's called a Safe Sphere here," Lucca replied. "The area around it repels monsters, so that people can sleep peacefully here. No one knows their origins, but they've been around since recorded history."

"Hn, musta been the Entity's fault."

"Who's the Entity?" Asked Crono.

I grinned. "You must wait for a forest to rise from the desert and a robot to work for four hundred years for that question to be asked again. You might just get an answer then."

"You suck."

"Love you, too." We laughed about that and I went on to explain the Heckran's weaknesses. "Use only Magic, physical attackswill cause a severe counter-attack. After a while he will get into a defensive stance and will counter ANYTHING we throw at him, so save the healing stuff for then. Unless one of us happens to be horribly wounded."

We charged into the chamber, not pulling out our weapons. Heckran screamed, "Death to the Mystic's enemies!" We attacked with every offensive spell in our arsenal. I was getting mentally burned with every attack I used, and, thankfully, I only had to use it three times before he entered counter-mode. Marle gave each of us an Ether to counter the magical side-effects. It turned out that over-using our magic caused the initial feeling of getting our magic to increase: Crono's body started twitching a little due to electricity, Marle was shivering, Lucca was sweating, and I was turning red, as if from heat stroke. Lucca handed us all a potion for the scratches Heckran was leaving with his claws.

As I drank the healing liquids I thought of a new attack. It would hurt worse than Point Flare, but it might just finish off Heckran. I explained this to Crono and the gang. They understood and stepped away. The Heckran returned to his "relaxed" pose and I began charging my magic. I forced the flames into a sphere of barely contained energy. It grew brighter and brighter until it was pure white. My brain felt as though it had gone light-speed in the sun's corona. I threw the ball at Heckran, crying the name for the heck of it: "Chaos Flare!"

It struck the Heckran, ripped a hole into his gut and exploded, blowing him in half. The explosion reached out across the room, mysteriously passing right through us. What was left of the monster attempted to claw at us, but when that failed, he panted, "If only... the great... Magus, who... created Lavos four... hundred years ago... had destroyed... the Humans..." He closed his eyes and faded into dust.

"Whoa," Crono gawked. "Magus created Lavos? By the way, nice move."

"Thanks," I panted, before chugging a couple of Ethers. "But it certainly takes a lot out of ya."

"So how're we gonna get back to the Middle Ages?" asked Marle.

"At the end of this room is a pool of water containing a vortex that'll take us back to Truce. To be specific, Lucca's place."

"Cool! Let's go!" Lucca ran off and dived into the pool head first. I followed after, though a little more cautious, and ended up being shot out of the ocean. I landed in a tree and jumped out just before Crono landed. But he wasn't as fast: Marle landed right in his lap. They jumped out quickly and I think I had two reasons why: 1. They were extremely embarrassed, and 2. the branch sounded ready to snap.

"Well, shall we, um, head for the, er, yeah," mumbled Crono. His face was bright red and seemeddetermined to look everywhere but at Marle. Marle reflected him to a T. Lucca and I glanced at each other and nearly broke out laughing.

"The Gate at the fairgrounds?" I supplied.

"Yeah, that's it," Marle muttered. "the Gate at the fairgrounds."

Lucca looked out at the sun far in the west. "Huh. Looks like we were in that cave all day. Why don't we stop at my house for the night?" Everyone agreed and, as soon as we arrived, went to bed or couch or floor, in my case. I woke up in the middle of the night to see Crono shuffling into the kitchen.

"Midnight snack?" I got up to join him.

"Yeah," he yawned.

"Ya wanna know sumthin', Crono?" I sat down at the kitchen table and Crono pulled out some cookies from a drawer.

"What?"

"That demonic image that was supposedly surrounding me sounded almost like a character I had created back home. His name was Barog Firestorm. The oddest part was, I think he reflected my feeling."

I glanced up from the table to see Crono with half a cookie sticking out of his mouth, looking bewildered. He quickly finished eating the cookie and said, "There's a legend, I suppose you could call it, of four beings who helped the making of this world by protecting the person drawing it up. They went by the names up Barog Firestorm, Gaia Earthknight, Kaze Hurricane,-"

"-and Frigida Icestorm," Ifinished with him. "I created those names and characters! (A/N: and don't you readers forget it! ): ) To imagine they'd follow me to another world! The Elementals, children of Creation." We looked at each other completely baffled, and finished our cookies in silence.

As we got up to return to sleep, Crono said, "The only thing about our legen that isn't complete is what the creators and protectors looked like. Maybe you're an avatar or something?"

"Yeah. Right," I couldn't help but be skeptical. "'Night Crono."

"You too."

We woke up the next day and left for the fairgrounds. Crono and I said nothing about our late-night chat, but I felt seriously weirded out that my creations would follow me to another world. When we reached the Gate I told the party that we would end up at the End of Time and would do so pretty much every time we went through a Gate. We activated the Gate Key and went straight to the year 600, wasting no time.

_"You call it insanity, I cal it religion"  
-Shadic the Hedgehog, Author. (That's me!)_


	7. Pieces of the Masamune

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter Seven**

**Pieces of the Masamune**

Shadic the Hedgehog

**Disclaimer: **I really friggin' wish I owned CT. I got some CRAZY ideas.

"Okay, Joe. Where are we off to?" asked Crono.

"We head for Zenan Bridge; talk to the commander, he should be in golden armour; then go to the castle and get some jerky from the Chef," I replied. "After that we join the fight at the bridge."

"Right."

We traveled for three days to the southern tip of the Northern Continent, which is also the location of Zenan Bridge. We spoke to the commander and he asked us to get some rations for the troops, because they were late. So we made a trek up to the castle, that took about the same amount of time. It went the same as in the game: we spoke to the chef; he said he was busy; we walked away, fairly ticked; he caught up to us; gave us the jerky, which was actually stuffed into three "bags of holding;" and dashed back to the kitchens.

When we finally got back to the bridge, we saw people with missing limbs and others laying on the ground from hunger and lack of energy. We spoke again to the commander.

"Everyone! We have food! The cook has saved us!" he yelled. Soldiers came running, or limping very fast, and got as much to eat as could be spared. Then things got worse: three soldiers came running up to usand announced that the army would have to fall back, because the Mystics were too powerful. The commander turned to us and said, "I recognize you as the ones who defeated Yakra and saved the Queen. My name is Commander Migjar, will you help us in battle?"

We nodded and he handed me a golden helmet. I passed it to Crono who stuffed it into our personal "Bag of Holding." We ran onto the bridge and found our first battle: three skeletons, Regenators, I think they were called, and Ozzie, the floating gut. I executed the Chaos Flare and discovered that the shockwave from Ozzie, it couldn't penetrate his fat for some reason, shattered all the skeletons. Ozzie retreated and we followed.

Next was four skeletons and Ozzie. Crono waited for them all to gather and then used his Cyclone attack. I could tell it wouldn't be enough so I charged in with Sonic Blade, caught Crono's sword and accelerated him, still holding out my sword. Our combined swords and speeds shattered all the skeletons. I let go of Crono's sword and continued on until I hit Ozzie, my sword bouncing out of his enormous stomach. Crono stumbled dizzily out of the remains of the skeletons a short while later. He recovered quickly and we called our attack the Sonic Cyclone. Ozzie retreated again, but we actually caught up to him faster than we should have.

"So, you think you're so tough!" taunted Ozzie. "Just wait 'til you meet Zombor!" Once he said the name, six skeletons floated in from the bridge and grouped together. Three of them turned into a torso with puny wings, and the other three bacme a pair of legs that attached themselves to the body. We got ready to fight and instantly used two of our newest Double Techs. Fire Blade One, where Lucca enchanted my sword and I used Sonic Blade (at Zombor's upper body) and Ice Sword One, Marle enchanted Crono's sword just before he slammed into it (at his lower body). The part where I sliced turned bright red and it shattered like overheated glass, and where Crono stabbed turned to pure ice then was shattered exactly like my piece. We repeated this several times, making sure not to accidentally strike the wrong half, or risk healing it. We helped with a major victory that day, and became even greater heroes than we were before. We were so physically and magically drained that we had to drag each other to Domino Inn.

The next day we headed south to Frog's place in the Cursed Woods. Marle asked why it was called the Cursed Wood, and I admitted that I didn't know. I located the bush at the entrance of Frog's house and we climbed down the ladder.

"There's no one home," said Marle, as she looked around. I started for the treasure chest at the far end of Frog's bed. Just as I reached the foot of the bed, Frog jumped down from the ceiling, sword at the ready. He took a quick glance around at us before realizing who we were.

"'Tis thee, Hugh. And the rest of thine party appears to be present as well," said Frog. He sheathed his sword and walked to the chest I had been heading for. "Why hast thou come to visit me? And while we speak of this, how didst thou know where I dwell?"

"I can answer both of those questions with one answer," I answered. "My name is Joe, not Hugh. I picked a false name for some stupid reason or other, and because I thought I would be able to reach my home Universe, unfortunately my gateway closed up before I could return permanently. In my home world, this world is a game for children, and finding your house is part of the quest to defeat Magus.

"Thou art from another world? 'Tis shocking news, but I am sorry. I do not think that I am strong enough to defeat him, even with thy help..." Frog turned away and seemed to slouch (it was hard to tell because he was really short to begin with).

I walked over to him and asked, "Would the Masamune help?" As if in reply he spun around and stare at me. "I thought that might get your attention. Unfortunately, without the sword's hilt, we will be unable to repair it. We'll also need the blade, but I'm sure we can get that later."

"Aye, I have the hilt, and the blade is atop Mt. Denadoro, but who is left that can reforge it?"

"We'll take care of that later. If you need proof that we can help, we'll return later with the blade and the Hero's Medal. Fare thee well, good knight." I turned around and started to climb the ladder.

"Wait! Thou hath told me enough to trust thee so I thusly entrust the hilt of the Masamune, in hopes that it shall be made whole once again. Upon thy return, we shall see about fighting Magus together." He got out the hilt of the sword from the chest, and passed it to Crono, who was just across the bed. Crono pulled out our "Bag of Holding" and slid it in.

"You shall not be disappointed, my friend. Expect us by the end of next week at the latest. See ya!" I waved and we all climbed up the ladder. We then headed north to Mount Denadoro, which took us about a day. Luckily, just as it was getting dark, we reached Fiona's house and she let us stay. As we left I handed her some gold pieces as thanks, though she said she didn't need it.

We reached Denadoro just in time for Tata to go shrieking past us. We stared after him for a couple of seconds before moving on up the mountain. As we met some monsters and dodged around others, I guided us to the cave of the Masamune. Our biggest trouble was the Outlaw flinging rocks at us from across a small canyon. We camped just in front of the cave entrance and the next morning I outlined a battle plan.

"Alright, when we enter there'll be some kid running around talking about being the wind, ignore him and head for the blade. The kid'll stop us and ask us if we're after the Masamune, and once I affirm that he'll cal his brother out of the sword. When the first stage of the fight starts, concentrate on one of them: they'll both stop if either becomes too wounded. Afterwards, they'll fuse into a huge beast named MasaMune. When he begins to store energy, you're gonna want to use Slash to disrupt the energy, Crono, 'cause if he hits one of us with it, its gonna hurt. Now let's get 'em."

We entered the cave and things went mostly to plan. As we walked past Mune, he stopped and watched. Once we reached the stairs, he said, "Are you here fo the Masamune, too?"

"Yes, but i was unaware others had tried," I replied.

"Another wanna-be hero, then. Oh, big brother!"

"What is it Mune?" Masa walked out from "behind" the blade, which was sticking in the ground, disguised as a whole sword.. He looked out and saw us. "Oh, not again. We should put up a 'no entrance allowed' sign."

"It wouldn't have stopped us anyway," I replied. "We're here to get the blade to its hilt, and the true owner. Now, do we have to fight you, or can we just take the blade with us?"

"You'll still have to fight us. After all-" started Masa.

"- it isn't the sword that makes you a hero," I interrupted. "I know, how about this: I won't use my sword for the first test."

"Whatever," said Mune. "Let's just start this." Crono, Marle, Lucca, and I headed back to the entrance while Masa and Mune stood in a guardian position in front of the sword. They hovered in the air, spinning around, and assumed their true forms. They looked like Olive-skinned, short, bald elves in robes. They also had noses that looked like beaks.

I started the battle by pulling Crono's sword out of its sheath and charging Mune, who's white robe had a purple collar. His eyes widened and he winced as I knocked the air out of him with the sword's hilt. He fell to the ground and when he jumped back up, he yelled, "Hey! You said you wouldn't use a sword!"

"Wrong," I replied, handing Crono's sword back "I said I wouldn't use MY sword, this is Crono's. Now let's get serious." I assumed a martial arts stance, actually it was more like a boxing stance, and started attacking Mune, randomly kicking and punching. He tried to block and dodge, but, due to my lack of fighting style, he found it difficult. He tried fighting back, but evey move was instantly turned to an attempted block thanks to my relentlessness. After he actually hit me at one point, knocking me back a couple feet, I glanced at Crono, Lucca, and Marle fighting Masa, three-to-one, and losing. Which meant that I would have to finish this before my friends could be finished off. That meant magic. I charged up a Point Flare and threw it at Mune's feet. Thinking that I was trying to hit him in the chest, he pulled a Matrix dodge that failed to accomplish anything. He flipped end over end and slammed his head against the wall. Once he spotted Mune's predicament, Masa called fpr a stop and we all returned to our starting postions.

"Well Masa, they beat us," said Mune, then he muttered darkly. "More like I was blown up by him."

"Heh, only Cyrus got this far before," replied Masa. They moved a little further away from each other and performed the Finori Fusion Technique, something only they could do. A dark hole in the cave opened up where they made contact and out stepped the hulking MasaMune. He roared and prepared to attack.

I yelled "Except for Crono, use your strongest spells!" I dodged a punch that caused a small crater and charged a Chaos Flare. I spun around for centrifugal force and threw it. As it made its way to MasaMune, a stream of Fire and Ice fused with it and turned it into a move I called Antipode Bomb. MasaMune flew back and began sucking in air, as if charging up for something... Crono noticed this and threw a Slash at him, the waves of energy causing Masamune to stumble back and lose the stored air.

MasaMune quickly recovered and charged Crono. I reacted and attacked with Sonic Blade, Marle turning it into Ice Blade1. When my sword passed through his left arm, turning it to ice. Crono leapt into the air to used Spincut, except that Lucca turned it into Fire Sword 1. He stabbed into MasaMune's right shoulder, causing the arm to burn off at the joint. Masamune sank to his puny knees and glowed bright colours before breaking apart into nothingness, the gold stream of his particles turning back into Masa and Mune at the head of the room. They turned into their human child forms.

"We have beaten you, so may we have the blade? Or is there another test?" I asked.

"You have earned it," replied Masa and Mune in a single voice. They walked back to the blade and merged with it. I walked up the stairs and pulled the blade out, being careful not to cut my hands. We placed it in a sheath before sliding it into the bag along with the hilt.

Masa's voice came from the hole in the cave roof, "You wanna ride the wind down to the base of the mountain?"

We all agreed ad were picked up by a small-scale tornado which traveled to the foot of the mountain at exhiarating speeds. We then trekked south to Tata's house to pick up the Hero's Medal. After that side trip, we hurried back north to the Time Gate so that Melchior could reforge the sword.

_"The Glories of the past are an illusion, so are the glories of the present,"_

_ -Edward Johnston, Timeline._


	8. Smithy's Requirements

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter Eight  
  
Smithy's Requirements  
**  
Shadic the Hedgehog

With a quick stop at the End of Time to heal up and check on Robo, we traveled to Medina to decrease the amount of time required to travel to Melchior's house. When we got there I pulled the shards of the Masamune out of the "Bag of Holding."

"This sword... How did you find it?" he murmured in amazement.

"That doesn't matter, Guru, can you fix it?" I replied.

"Yes, if I had some Dreamstone. I've been meaning to ask you something, by the way: how did you find out I was the Guru of Life?"

"Easy, I'm from another world. I'd tell you everything, but that would take too long. I can get you the Dreamstone, by the way. I could also return you to Zeal if you'd like. That'll take me a while, though."

"No, I don't have any reason to return, but be sure to give me my regards!" Melchior laughed.

"As soon as we get you off of Mount Woe." His eyes opened wide.

"Now I recognize you! But where's the frog-man?"

"He'll join us as soon as we return the Masamune to him in one piece. We'd better be off if we're going to save the world!" We left the sword's pieces with Melchior and headed back to the End of Time. We switched Crono with Robo because he needed some experience, and I didn't want Ayla to slam Crono's head against the cliff. I decided to try hiding behind Lucca when she comes running in, and, if I couldn't do that, I do have an extremely hard head (A/N: One of the hardest headds I know of! In fact, brick walls don't even hurt).

I warned everyone of the fall after the Gate and we made a great landing. Actually, as we began the descent, I pulled my sword out and it slammed right through one of the five Reptites standing at thte bottom. He made an extremely annoyed face (I think) right before he split in half. Wasting no time, everyone else pulled out their weapons, and we all fought the Reptites one-on-one. By the end of the first battle, Lucca's opponent was scorched, Marle's riddled with crossbow bolts, and Robo's was a pulp. Mine was minced.

When the second wave arrived I got everyone to stand back. Ayla charged in from the same direction as the Reptites and starting ripping out their jugular veins. When she got to the fifth one, she also carried it off, leaving four for us to repeat the last battle with. When we finished that fight, Lucca and I burned the carcasses left. Ayla came charging back in, but Lucca was on the other side of the field so I jumped behind the nearest of the party, which was Robo. But, being rather clueless, Ayla pushed Robo up against the cliff and I was being squashed between a literal "rock and a hard place."

"Gagh!" I choked. "Help... Me...!" Ayla let up on Robo, I gasped in a lungful of fresh, prehistoric air (not an oxymoron. Actually, the air was better than the Earth's), then coughed harshly. "Ow, that hurt!"

"Me Ayla. Me Sorry. Who you?" she replied.

"I am Robo, the one who was crushed is Joe, and the girls over there are Lucca, and Marle, who is wearing white," introduced Robo.

"We are from many days past tommorrow," I concluded.

Ayla laughed, "HA HA HA! That good joke! You follow me to Ioka Village, talk, celebrate strong new friends!" She jumped onto the cliff running out of the Mystic Mountain range and I followed as close behind as I could, Robo and I helping Lucca and Marle onto the cliff as well. As we ran along the cliff, I pointed out the Kilwalas and horned dinos (I forgot their name) and everyone seemed highly relieved.

We followed Ayla to her hut and were asked to wait while they set up the celebration in the Meeting Grounds. About an hour later, Kino (I recognized his hair and his duck-walk) entered the hut and announced that the celebration was set. We folloed him and began to party. I pulled Ayla aside, after telling Lucca that I was going to talk to her.

"What Joe want?" She started.

"We need a stone known as the Dreamstone," I replied.

"Plenty stone, what Dreamstone like?"

"It is, in fact, the very stone you use as the chief's 'badge.'"

"Joe want Red Rock?" asked Ayla, pulling out the Dreamstone. "Then Joe must defeat Ayla! Strongest become chief of Ioka!"

"I do not wish to be chief. We only need the stone to fix something. What is your challenge?"

"If Ayla stay chief, the Joe name challenge."

"Okay... A timed race. Whoever can go into the Mystic mountains and back out the fastest wins. And you must travel in the canyon area where the Kilwalas and dinos are. The race will be just between the two of us."

"Oooh, Joe make good challenge! Ayla accept!" Ayla and I returned to the celebrations and had some stuff they called "Dizzy Juice." After we all had our fill (Ayla had at least twice the rest of us), We gathered around the fire for dancing (I kept stumbling), and finally Lucca, Marle, Robo, and I slept. Or in Robo's case, saved power.

_"You're gonna get thwarked!"  
-Thak, Thak 2_


	9. Reptite Thieves!

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter Nine**

Reptite Thieves!  
  
Shadic the Hedgehog

I woke up feeling horrible. I couldn't really understand why, but for some reason after the dancing, everything was a blur. I stumbled to my feet and looked around. The rest of the team was in the same general area I was, but not uncomfortably close. Then I noticed the Reptite tracks and shouted, "Guys! Wake up! Wake up!" I had to grab my head after that, because I suddenly developed a spltting headache.

"Nrgrh," snorted Lucca. "What is it Joe?" She yawned widely, then groaned and grabbed her head.

"Yeah," mumbled Marle. "I was having such a wonderful dream..."

"Wake up Robo. We've been robbed," I replied.

Marle stood up quickly, then sat right back down, her head probably spinning. Lucca got up slower and stumbled over to Robo. She smacked his dome and his eyes began glowing.

"Yes?" Robo said. "My, you all look terrible."

"Well, besides the fact that we just spent the night on the ground, it looks like we've been robbed by Reptites," I replied. "'Scuse me for a sec." I dashed off to the side of the grounds and threw up. Wiping my face off with a discarded leaf, I added in a raspy voice, "What's wrong with us, Robo?"

"I have suspicions, but I'll have to run an analysis on the Dizzy Juice. Is there any left?" he answered.

"Yeah, there should be some over there," Lucca mumbled. After testing the chemical make-up of the Dizzy Juice, he concluded, "Apparently, this beverage is made of fermented bananas. In other words, you are all suffering from hangovers.

I stared at him for a while before I said, "Ah, crap. I vowed never to drink an alcoholic beverage for my entire life, and now look what I've done! Guess I'll keep trying not to drink the stuff, but my broken vow shall haunt me forever."

Lucca walked over and patted me on the shoulder. "Hey, 's not that bad. Least, nothing else happened."

"...True. Now, the first step in getting our stuff back is to talk to Ayla."

We traveled to Ayla's hut and entered, to find Ayla herself sleeping on the nearest cot of the three on the floor. Marle walked over to her and shook her shoulder.

"Ayla, wake up," she said in a soothing voice. "Come on, wake up." 'Gee,' I thought. 'Crono's kids are going to be well cared for.'

Ayla's eyes snapped open and she jumped out of the bed. What she was weaing was a frightening sight. Actually, it was the lack of what she was wearing that scared me. I spun around and Lucca laughed, "Ayla, get your furs on. You're embarrassing the man."

"Ayla no understand. Joe not like Ayla?" Ayla was amazingly awake, almost if she drank Dizzy Juice every day.

"It's not that I don't like you, just that I don't like such displays," I replied, staring out the door. After a little more of Lucca and Marle talking to her, Ayla finally put her furs on and wetold her the situation. She ranted about the Reptites for a while, but then she calmed down and we started south for the Maze Forest. Suddenly, I thought of a better idea, and thankfully before we had gotten to far.

"Hey guys, I think it might be a good idea if we trained a little before continuing to the Reptite Lair."

"What do you mean?" asked Marle.

"There's some hunting grounds up north filled with mosters. If we beat them up for a while, we might get a little stronger for any upcoming fights. We'll probably need it since Crono's not here."

"I am afraid that I require more information," said Robo, "Before I can decide if we do that. How would it be any easier if Crono were here?"

"Simple: dinosaurs are weak against lightning, and Crono has that kind of magic. If we train enough, we might be able to defeat the Reptites without him." That seemed reason enough for Robo, but Ayla was curious as to who this "Crono" was. Marle gave a small (but detailed wink!) description. Finally, we turned around and headed north instead. By the time we got there, it was getting dark, so we camped out in a conveniently located hut.

The next morning, we started hunting, mostly going after Ions and Anions, and waiting for the rain to start, so that we could fight the Nu. We found him, er, it (they don't actually have a gender), and began the battle.

I started off with a Laser Sword combo with Robo, and nearly sliced it's arm off. Ayla and Lucca charged in with a newly learned Fire Cat Dual Tech, and Marle healed our headaches with her Cure spell. Yeah, I said headaches. Turns out the Nu couldn't kill us, only wound us in head-to-head combat. It was funney to blurrily see that after hitting my head, the Nu stumbled around in mutual pain.

After a few more rounds like that we finished off the Nu and he gave us some prehistoric money (fangs, horns, feathers, and petals) and a third eye. We all started back south with new moves, from the over-all hunt Lucca learned her first Bomb attack, Marle learned Ice 2, Robo learned how to use his Heal Beam mechanism, and Ayla learned Cat Attack. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of any new techinques. (A/N: If I'm doing the Techs out of order, sorry but it's been a while since I played)

We made it into the Maze Forest about two days later (making it approximately a week after we left Frog's house), to find Kino surrounded by monsters. There were several dead monsters around him, so he must have been putting up a good fight. We charged in and ripped, or sliced, or shot the monsters. It was an extremely easy fight compared to the Nu, and right after I actually thought up a new move! Even though my flames hurt everyone else, they can't damage me physically, so I could use it to clear out my bloodstream of poison and disease, and cauterize my wounds! Because it allowed me to clear out my blood, I decided to call the move Purification.

Ayla asked Kino, "Why Kino here instead of Ioka? Kino needed there while Ayla help friends!"

"K-Kino here to get back friends' things from Reptites," he replied.

"How would you know about that? We only spoke to Ayla," said Lucca.

Kino flinched. "Kino sorry, but Kino took friends' things. Then Reptites steal something from Kino and leave Kino here." Ayla bopped Kino on the head realy hard.

"Ayla, there is no need for violence," counseled Robo.

"Actually, it's sometimes the most effective cure for stupidy," I replied.

Kino gave us back what stuff he had of ours and we noticed the Gate Key was the only thing missing. I explained that Azala (A/N: Is that how it's spelled? Could someone help me out?) had taken the key because it represented a form of technology that he or she knew humans of the age couldn't make. Kino returned to the village after the oversimplified explanation as to how I knew this ("He's not from around here"). That said, we traveled through the forest, and our only real problem was getting lost, since the monsters were too afraid to face us. We made it out around sunset and camped for the night. Upon opening our eyes, we were surrounded by Reptites.

"Surrender, Apes," said one wearing blue, "and maybe Azala will spare your pitiful lives. After all, he needs something to explain that device we stole." The Reptite grinned toothily and gestured for us to be picked up.

"Don't fight them!" I yelled. "This'll get us closer to the Gate Key faster than having to go through the caves!" Ayla still struggled a bit, and it took six Reptites to carry Robo, as opposed to the two for each of us. Our "escorts" took a few shortcuts that were never in the game, plus we didn't have to fight anything, since we were prisoners, which meant that we would be fully rested for our battle against Nibel. We'd be needing all the power we could get.

We were tossed unceremoniously into the chamber where Azala stood, contemplating the Gate Key. He turned around and said, "Excellent, these odd apes should be able to answer my question. What does this interesting device do?"

Marle edged over to me and whispered as discreetly as she could, "What should we say? I need your help here!"

"It doesn't matter what we say," I whispered back. "He'll sick his triceratops buddy on us either way. Although, we probably shouldn't tell him, in case he should think to try it out himself."

"Right," she stepped forward and said, loud and clear, "None of your beeswax!" I could have done a face-fault (A/N: AKA Pratfall)! I was expecting something a bit more regal than that!

"Fine!" Azala screamed. "This should loosen your tongues!" As he ran off to the side he called "Nibel, attack!" And in charged a triceratops that could walk on its back legs.

We drew our weapons (Or for Robo and Ayla, got in a fighting pose), and attacked Nibel. Robo and Ayla were attacking from the sides, while Lucca was shooting him in the back of the head. I kept his attention up front with slices of my sword. Most of his attacks, including tail attacks, were nullified by Marle's Cure spells, and when she didn't have to heal, she was freezing him with her normal Ice spell. As he began to wear down, Marle, Lucca, and I used the Antipode Bomb, but Robo decided to add something extra: jumpnig into the air, he used Rocket Punch on the Triple Tech, accelerating it. Nibel chose that exact moment to roar at us, and, unfortunately for him, the Bomber Fist went straight down his throat. It blew up in the vicinity of his stomach(s?), resulting in the complete cooking of his innards and a huge "fart" of fire. Azala ran off, after dropping the Gate Key, and we returned to Ioka Village where Ayla presented me with the Dreamstone.

"But we didn't do the canyon race," I protested.

"Joe has shown Ayla great strength and friendship, so Ayla give Joe Chief's Rock," she explained.

We thanked her and they threw another party (I tried steering away from the Dizzy Juice until Lucca mentioned that "it didn't really matter, we all got drunk earlier, and that was irreversible"). The next day, we passed quickly through the End of Time, switching Crono and Robo around again, and traveled to Melchior's house. Lucca and Melchior fixed the Masamune, and we headed back to the year 600, after taking a "two day" rest stop at the End of Time.

_ "Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work."  
-Mark Twain_


	10. Master of Shadows

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter 10**

Master of Shadows

Shadic the Hedgehog

We traveled back to Frog's house to hand him the completed Masamune, pausing on occasion to rest and battle some rouge Mystics. We reached the Cursed Woods and saw a Nu, hurrying towards Frog's underground home. We caught up to it and trapped it, in order to force a battle, right above Frog's house. He came out to investigate the noise and I tossed him the Masamune. To my amazement, the Nu moved faster than I thought possible, and caught the sword itself.

"What in the...!" I blurted.

The Nu sneered and said, "So, it appears Magus's bane has been reforged. He will not be pleased."

"You work for Magus!" cried Lucca. "But why?"

"Because I am no Nu. I am a Doppelganger contracted to his service."

"Why didn't you warn us, Joe?"

"Because this wasn't part of the game. It was just a normal Nu," I replied.

"I told you," shouted the Doppelganger. He changed forms to look like Frog. "I'm not a frickin' Nu!"

"Aw, shyt!" I looked to Marle, Lucca, Crono, and Frog and began charging a Chaos Flare without letting the flames emerge from my blood stream (It really freakin' hurt). "This battle could be very tough. We have find a way to be sure we attack the Nu-Frog."

"I thought I told you..." the Doppelganger jumped into the air. "I'M NOT A NU!"

Crono blocked with his katana, having figuring out my plan, and yelled, "Now!"

I materialized the Chaos Flare and held it up. Lucca and Marle had also figured out what I was doing and turned my Flare into a Antipode Bomb. I threw the sphere and Frog caught it on his sword. The Doppelganger turned to face him and Crono added lightning to the sword. Frog stabbed his copy and it howled in pain as Shadow and Flame energy erupted from avery pore in it's body, causing complete disintegration.

"Yeah! We did it!" cheered Marle. Frog picked up the Masamune and looked around.

"I would not be too sure of that," he muttered. "The blade quaketh as it once did in Magus' presence."

"Very good, boy," a cold voice echoed through the forest.

"Was it truly a Doppelganger? Or a Shadow Mage in disguise?" I asked.

"I would not be so foolish as to hold that which could kill me," Magus stepped into the clearing. "I merely sent him to gauge your strength."

Lucca tried to shoot Magus in the head, but the shot went through him and hit the tree behind.

"An illusion," growled Frog. "Thou wouldst never come here in person as long as I hold the Masamune."

"You are overconfident. I shall be waiting for you in my castle. The Magic Cave will be open and waiting." His illusion faded.

"That fiend. He darest insult me! He shall die by my hand!"

"Still, you'll need more power than just the sword," I told him. I turned to Crono and the others. "Let's get him to Spekkio."

"Right," Crono nodded. We headed north and dropped Marle off at the Castle, because she wanted to visit some with her ancestors. After entering the End of Time, we introduce Frog to Robo and Gaspar, before heading to Spekkio's Room.

"Well, now. Normally, I woulda put you as a Water Caster, but since the discovery of the other elements, it looks like you're a Wind type," said Spekkio. He looked different again, but I couldn't place the species. Spekkio chanted and a tornado rose around Frog. When it settled, his eyes were shifting from a bright yellow back to normal. "There, now that you've got magic, ya wanna test it out?"

"We'll do that in a bit," said Lucca.

"After all, we know the perfect training spot," I agreed. We grabbed Frog by the arms and took him to the Hunting Grounds in the prehistoric age, where he learned Cure and Heal, in addition to the Wind spell from Spekkio. In the meantime, I worked on adapting my attacks to look like moves from Dragonball Z, but it still hurt like hell. Like all the moves were powered by the Kaioken times a hundred and one. Lucca learned Fire 2 and Crono learned Lightning 2. It was still a mystery how our Area attacks keep from harming us, or our allies.

We returned to 600 AD, picked up Marle, picked up Marle, and headed for the Magic Cave. Magus was true to his word, and had it open. As soon as we entered, I noticed a small bat flutter down and fly just out of sword's reach.

Avoiding most of the monsters in the path, we traveled for the "back door." When we reached it I whispered, "Leave the new techniques for Slash, Flea, and Magus. Especially Magus."

"Why are we whispering?" asked Marle.

"Magus has eyes and ears in many places." I glanced pointedly upwards at the bat overhead. We walked up to the castle and opened the front gates. Then as we approached the top of the stair well, Ozzie appeared, laughing at us. The "bat" flew over to his ear and then flew away

"So, you've made it all the way here, Froggy and friends. I'd love to teach you a lesson, but instead..." Ozzie raised his stubby arms, and we were surrounded as two Bats, Henches, and Gargoyles appeared. We drew our swords in response. "You'll have to fight all one hundred monsters in the castle!" He faded out, laughing at us.

"Remember the strategy!" I jumped into the air, slicing one of the Bats in two. Frog had cut off the head of a Gargoyle, and was jumping to take out the other Bat. Crono sliced up the second Gargoyle with a Cyclone, and the two Henches vanished in the flash of blue and red light that comes from an Antipode 2 spell.

Then Marle just had to ask, "Do we really have to fight 100 monsters?"

"No," I replied. "But we will have to fight quite a bit." I first led everyone down the left path, towards Slash's room. We walked past a bunch of villagers looking hopeless, got some stuff, then headed towards Flea's room down the other hallway.

We walked slowly around the Shadow Children, who were watching their treasure with great want. Then we reached the Room of Regret. Before we entered I tried to explain what was in the room.

"Inside there are memories given form. Somehow, Flea was able to create illusions of people we know. They aren't very good copies, though, for they can only say enough to make us wish we hadn't started our journey, or something to that effect. Do not be fooled."

"Thy world doth know much, Joe," Frog nodded. "Will thy knowledge help us defeat Magus?"

"Yes, I know his weaknesses, as well as those of Slash, Ozzie, and that batty Flea." The "bat" flying overhead gave a startled squeak and fluttered a little faster. We then entered the room.

"Mom..." gasped Crono.

"Where have you been! I've been worried sick!" scolded "Crono's Mom."

"Well, I'm, uh-"

"Crono," I warned. "Remeber what I said? that isn't your mother, just an illusion. Let's move on."

We encountered Queen Leene, King Guardia XXXIII, and Taban, Lucca's Dad, as well. Next was my turn, and I was ready. Or at least, I thought I was.

"Joe?" It was my sister...

"'Manda? How'd you get here: I replied, shocked.

"I found my own Gate and ended up here."

"So there's a way hom?" I gasped, then I blinked and thought, 'something's not right here...'

"No, it closed up behind me. But maybe if we talked to Magus later, he could get us back home!"

"You're not Amanda." I put my hand behind my back and concentrated.

"What are you talking about? Of course I am."

"I've found a slight continuity problem," I winced as I summoned a small fireball in my hand. "I told no one back home of the Universe Gate, and you just said that you found your own Gate.' How could you know I hadn't merely walked from our universe to this one. Now die, blasphemous illusion!" I threw the fireball at the illusion and ran past not wanting to see it burn or hear any screams of pain. Everyone followed me into Flea's room and I sat down on the chair, hand's covering my face. Flea the Bat squeaked, indignently at my audacity.

"Flea, you gender confused fool! Stop flapping around the ceiling! Get down here and fight me! One. On. One." Amazingly, s/he came down to do just that.

"You wish to battle, foolish Human? It shall be your undoing!" s/he cackled.

"I think not." I stood up, placed my hands, fingers to wrists, by my side. "I was going to save this, but you just had to make me mad." I charged a fireball in my hands, compressing the energy as it emerged, chanting, "Kaaa... Meee... Haaa... Meee... HAAAA!" I thrust my hands foreward, changing the position so that my wrists were touching. The ball of fire stretched out into a beam aimed at Flea's head.

S/he blocked with an ice shield then held out just long enough for my flame to run out. "I thought you said you knew my weaknesses." I replied with an evil grin and grabbed the hilt of my sword, charging Flea. S/he prepared to block a physical attack, but was quite surprised when I opened my mouth and a jet of fire flew out, in a modified Purification spell.

In response, Flea jumpedover my head and I pulled out my sword, spinnig to attack hir on the other side of me. Instead s/he landed on my sword, cape twirling. I turned the blade, causing hir to fall. S/he grabbed my sword with both hands and spun, shattering the blade.

"Good job, girl. Now I can try my Icebane technique," I grinned again.

"I'm a man!" Flea protested. I laughed and threw the remains of my sword at hir. S/he dodged and bagen laughing, but the laughter was cut short when I sliced off hish left arm with a blade made of fire. S/he shrieked in pain and vanished.

This isn't... over..." I panted, just before I fell unconcious.

--line break--

"Hey look! He's waking up!" Marle's voice. I groaned. I tried to lift my arm, but something was weighing it down. Something warm, and kinda squishy...

I opened my eyes and looked over. "Er..." My face flushed when I saw Lucca hugging my arm, asleep. I looked beyond her and saw a Safe Sphere. I carefully slipped my arm out of Lucca's grip and stood. We were in Slash's room, and his sword was missing from the wall above the chair.

Crono and Frog approached me, and I asked them what had happened since I had fallen unconcious. Apparently, after I had banished Flea, Crono had carried me out, while Frog, Lucca, and Marle were in a vanguard formation. They defeated everything in their way until they reached Slash's room, and along the way Marle learned Cure 2 and Frog learned Wind 2.

Slash was a rather tough battle for them, but as decided, only our known attacks were used against him. Crono and Frog learned quickly that X-slash useful, and Lucca and Marle enchanted the swords with Fire and Ice.

Once Slash pulled down his sword from the wall, they stopped using magic and just went with normal attacks. Until Crono came up with the idea for a move called Slash Piñata. Frog lifted Slash into the air with a Wind spell, and Crono used Slash on him. There was a loud crack as the attack hit Slash's right arm, bending it in an unnatural way. Slash dropped his sword and vanished.

"Then this Safe Sphere showed up and we all took a well deserved nap," Marle concluded.

Lucca yawned and sat up as I replied, "Mind if I use Slash's sword? the Icebane technique is far too draining."

"Of course," Lucca replied. "We already put it in your scabbard." I blinked and looked down.

"Oh. I guess I've gotten so used to the weight of a sword I didn't noticed." We laughed and I pulled out the Slasher. It was a little thin for me, but it would work.

Frog croaked at us and said, "Wherefore art we standing still?"

"Right" I nodded and re-sheathed the Slasher again with a click. "We should be going after Magus. Let's head back to the entrance."

When we reached the entrance hall, there was what appeared to be a Safe Sphere, but what I knew to be a transportation device. We stepped into it, after a small explenation, and faded out, one-by-one, to appear in a hallway lined with gargoyles.

"Now where are we?" asked Marle.

"It's Magus' next gauntlet," I explained. "Between each pair of statues is a battle. Watch out for the Jugglers because their defenses switch between magic and physical."

"Isn't there a way to avoid them?" asked Crono.

"I've tried, the gargoyles contain real creatures."

"Then why not destroy them before they wake?" asked Frog.

I blinked. Then I smacked myself on the forehead. "Duh! We're not actually in a game right now, so they can be killed outside of battle! Crono, you remember that Kamehameha Wave I used earlier? Well, there's the basic idea, but I'd like to teach you another move: it's called the Supreme Cannon. Basically, you channel your energy into your fingertips, and after you get enough, you release it forward in a beam that's got two more spiraling around it. You try it out on the left row. I've got the right."

We got into position and Crono used the attack almost completely identical to the way Piccolo did it on DBZ. Instead of using the Kamehameha Wave this time, I used Prince Vegeta's Gallic Gun attack. It looked about the same, but was less focused in the ray itself, but more powerful.

All of the statues in the room were either shattered or completely destroyed. We then, in hope that it was safe, traveled through the center of the room. It had worked, we didn't get into a single battle. After we got through that room, we walked into a room filled with conveyer belts and guillotines. Looking towards the back of the room, we noticed Ozzie turning a crank. He spotted us and stopped the crank.

"Welcome to my first hall of horrors! Think you can make it through alive?" He laughed and then began turning the crank again. We looked around for a way to get through easily and I glanced up to the ceiling. Apparently, the guillotines weren't attached directly to the ceiling.

"Glenn, think you can carry us over there with Wind 2?" I asked.

Frog blinked and looked up at me, "H-how didst thou knowest my true name?"

"'Nother world remember?"

"I see. Yes, I do believe I can carry us all with my magic."

"Good. By the way, would you prefer being called by your real name?"

"Y-yes, it would be much more... Comfortable..." Glenn then turned forward and raised his arms, chanting softly. A wind began to stir at our feet, raising a small cloud of dust and whipping our clothes around. Eventually, it gained enough strength that it picked us up off the ground. Glenn started chanting louder, and it carried us over the guillotines all the way to the door on the other side of the room, landing next to Ozzie.

Ozzie blinked, then turned towards us before he phased off into the next room. We walked out the door and found ourselves on a small fire escape-like set of stairs outside the castle.

"We need to go up!" I shouted over the cold, biting wind. "But be careful! The path is covered with Outlaws, Jugglers, and Bomb Rolys!" I looked ahead. "Here comes a Bomb Roly now!"

Glenn quickly began chanting again, picking us off the path and carrying us up to the doorway, which we entered.

"Well, that's one way to do it," I assented. Looking down the hall, I saw... nothing. Nothing but hallway with a corner at the far end.

"What're we waiting for!" called Marle, starting down the hallway.

"No! Wait!" But I was too late in my warning, there was a loud clanking noise and a hole opened up in the ground beneath Marle. As she fell in, the rest of us dove in after. Even Glenn followed as opposed to casting Wind as I had hoped. As we reached the bottom of our descent, we slowed, like we were falling through water. We landed in a completely empty room, with four sparkling spheres at each end, over twenty floors down.

"Whoa, where are we?"

"The basement. Ozzie had another trap set up in that room. Four pit traps, Marle just activate the first one."

Glenn stared up at the darkness above us, "My Wind cannot even lift us that far."

"So how do we get out?" asked Crono.

I pointed at one of the sparkles, "One of those is a Safe Sphere, another is a Teleport Sphere, and the other two are enemies disguised as Safe and/or Teleport Spheres."

"Which is it?" asked Lucca.

"Unknown. It's different every time."

"Greeeat. So how are we supposed to get outta this one?" asked Marle.

"Simple," stated Crono, he pulled his katana out. "We fight our way out!" Just by making eye contact, we agreed that Crono, Lucca, and I, being the most experienced, would investigate three of the Spheres on our own, while Marle and Glenn would investigate the last one together. Things went smoothly. It turned out that Crono and I had the Monster Spheres, Lucca had the Safe Sphere, and Marle and Glenn had the Teleport Sphere.

Crono and I battled our way out of the monsters, and met back up with Lucca before we headed to the Transport Sphere. I took a small detour and opened up a couple of chests that happened to be there. I found a helmet and a potion, that was amazingly labeled "Ether." I smiled, 'Glenn's gonna need this before too long.'

After we emerged at the entrance of the room, Glenn lifted us off the ground again and carried us to the other end of the hall where Ozzie was. As usual, Ozzie freaked and flew off. Glenn landed us and as we started moving, he stumbled, as if he were drunk. Marle noticed this too and looked over at him.

"What's wrong?"

"I do not know," he muttered, shaking his head. "I feel odd. As if I was spun about rapidly, as I had been when Sir Spekkio gave me my Magic."

"Side effect of using too much Magic," I said. "I was wondering what yours would be. Here, I found this in the basement." I handed him in the Ether and he drank it down quickly.

"Much better. My thanks to thee."

"No prob, let's get going." We headed through the door and found ourselves in another Gargoyle-lined hallway. Crono and I merely walked to each side and used Gallic Gun and Special Beam Cannon again. We proceeded through the rubble and found ourselves in a large room with four cranks and a throne. Ozzie was in front of the throne.

"Amazing," he said. "To think that a frog and four humans could survive the powers of the Great Magus' army of Mystics."

"Pfft. Do you really think we would lose to a bunch of idiots like you, Flea, and Slash when I happen to be from a universe were I've beaten all of you by controlling just Glenn, Lucca and Crono? I know more than you could ever fathom. I know that you will be killed by a cat," I said. Ozzie blanched. "That's right. A CAT! It'll be orange with black stripes on it."

Ozzie regained his composure, "Hmph! Like I'm going to be beaten by you chumps! And a cat! Give me a break! If you think you're going to win, just try it!" He waved his hands and was covered by what appeared to be a dome of ice.

Crono prepared to attack, but I held him back. "There's only one way to beat him: the pully closest to the door, on the left when you face the door, will open a pit right beneath him. It's being held closed by an invisible hench."

Marle and Lucca took aim at said crank and both fired at once, there was a small scream and the crank suddenly began spinning. When it stopped, there was a grinding sound and the floor fell out from beneath Ozzie's shield. As it fell, Ozzie screamed: he couldn't phase through his protective shield, nor could he fly under it's weight.

After we could no longer hear his screams, a Safe Sphere and a Teleport Sphere appeared. We rested up a bit and went over our inventory, putting the Potions, Midpotions, and Ethers at the top, before we headed through the Teleport Sphere.

Once we emerged on a stairwell, we hightailed it to escape the Bats that were chasing us, just to save more of our energy. Entering the door at the bottom of the stairs, we found ourselves in a dark room, filled with the sounds of murmured chanting. I took a step forward and six blue flames lit up, three on either side. We continued forward and more blue flames lit. It was then that we heard Magus' voice.

"Nuega Nuega Zeiber Zom... Now the Chosen Time has come... I trade this World for..." We reached him just before he could finish his ritual.

"Lavos?" I asked. "He's too powerful for you at this time, Magus. How about you settle for us?" The blue flames continued to light, coming to a circle around Magus. Then a large, six-armed statue carrying torches lit up. Magus turned, his blue hair sliding across his shoulders, violet eyes flashing.

"You made it. Excellent. I guess this means you truly wish to battle me?" he said, coldly.

"It does, foul one! Now thou shalt taste the might of the Sacred Sword, the Masamune!" cried Glenn, drawing the sword.

Magus' hair and cape began fluttering, in a breeze none of us could feel. "The Black Wind howls. Come to your doom, on the edge of the Dark Blade, the Murasame!" He, too drew a sword, but this one looked oddly famaliar. As he held it in the light, I gasped.

"My father's sword! I-it has become the Murasame! But, this can't be possible! The Murasame never existed in the game!"

"I found this sword seven years ago, in the region of the Magic Cave. It was after that that I discovered the Magic Cave and had my castle built on the other side. Now, shall we begin?"

Glenn attacked, starting with a feint that Magus attempted to block. But the Masamune danced around the Murasame and sliced a thin, red line into Magus' forearm that began to steam from the contest of magical energies.

Magus re-sheathed the sword, "I guess cannot win in a contest of swords just yet, so we'll have a battle of spells!" He cast a spell that caused a wave of heat followed by a set of explosions. "Once you've lost enough energy, the Murasame will drain your souls, making me all the stronger!"

"He cast Fire 2! Lucca, cast a flame spell on him!" I called. Lucca nodded and blasted him with her own Fire 2. He narrowed his eyes and cast another spell that caused electricty to permeate the air around him.

"Crono! Your turn!" Crono focused his energy and used the Kamehameha Blast on him (making me realize just how like Goku he really was). Magus seized up for a moment, electricity dancing across his body, then cast yet another spell. This time, things suddenly got really chilly, followed by a feeling of steely wetness enclosing me.

"I-ice t-t-t-two! M-M-Marle! D-do it!" She put her hands out in front and hummed causing a line of frost to track its way to Magus before enclosing him in a large block of ice. He shattered out and, looking more blue than normal, cast one more spell. Targeting me he blasted me with Dark Bomb, one of the weakest Shadow spells. It at least dried me off a bit after that Ice 2 he hit us with.

"Ha! Try finding a counter for that! I'm the only one in this fight who has command of the Shadows!" laughed Magus.

"Yeah, the only one! When we work together, we can even take out the Shadow Master! Marle, Lucca, Crono! It's time for Delta Force!" The three of them created a triangle around Magus and started to cast, all at once, their second level element spells at Magus. Right in the middle of the casting, Glenn jumped overhead and cast Wind 2, making it into a whirlwind. "Or maybe we can have a Tetra Storm." The three elements of Fire, Ice, and Lightning began to mix, turning black. Magus was lifted by the cyclone's force and was zapped, frozen, and burned all at the same time.

As the storm died down, Magus floated back to the floor, smoking from the power of it. He stood up, wincing and panting from the pain. "You... leave me... no choice!" Standing at his full height he spread his arms. "I'll cast you all into OBLIVION!" He began casting a spell that was shrouding his body in such absolute Darkness that he was barely distinguishable in the already dark room.

"OH HELL! He's casting Dark Matter! The most powerful of all Shadow Magic!" I cried. 'We need a spell to match the power of Dark Matter. Wait, oblivion? That's what Vegeta yells for his greatest attack! That gives me a good idea: it's time for one of the most powerful spells of all Fire Magic.' I concentrated all my Fire into something stronger than even the Chaos Flare: the all encompassing Flare spell. I was racked with pain as the flames erupting from me lifted me into the air. My vision was shifting in and out of a red tint, from all the power I was amassing. I concentrated all the energy into a ball around me, putting in so much energy that it spread out across the room. Just as the energy completed the initial wave, Magus finished casting Dark Matter. I gave a primal roar of rage and channeled all the energy into a beam of fire, changing the Flare spell's application from all enemies to a single enemy. Directing the beam into the space behind the Dark Matter, overloading Magus' spell and draining the rest of my strength. I fell to the ground and stared into Magus' eyes. "Your darkness has been banished by the power of my Final Flare." 'Though it was probably a one time deal...'

"Heh. Your own spell seems to have hurt you more than all of your friends' attacks have hurt me!" Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Magus looked back at the altar, the torches from the six armed statue having started to fall off. "No! Not now!"

Lucca walked up next to him, "It's Lavos isn't it?"

"Yes, you interrupted my summoning ritual. Because I thought you would never make it all the way here, I decided to summon Lavos as I had originally planned."

"Wait, summoned?" said Marle. "You mean you didn't create him?"

Magus scoffed, "Like someone could just create Lavos. No, he fell to this planet from space millenia ago, and now he's the most powerful creature on this planet."

"And yet, it is our destiny to defeat it. This party of adventurers, I mean," I stated, walking to Magus' side, opposite Lucca.

"Huh?" Suddenly, the ground shook again and a blue light emenated from the altar, as it warped in shape. No, not in shape. The statue was warped in time and space. The whole room was becoming warped in a shimmering, blue light.

"I'll explain the next time we meet. For now, by the power that brought you here, go home. And may the Prophets be with you." A full-fledged time gate opened on one end of the room and swallowed the entirety of Magus' Castle, sending the five of us to 65,000,000 BC and Magus to 12,000 BC.

Or so I believed...

_Blackened is the end/Winter it will send/  
Throwing all you see/Into obscurity.  
Blackened, by Metallica_


	11. The Two Prophets

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter 11**

**The Two Prophets**

Shadic the Hedgehog

"Oh, Joe! Get up, you lazy bum!" called Lucca's voice. "Crono and Marle may be King and Queen now, but that doesn't mean we get to keep taking money from the Royal Treasury! Get up and find yourself a job!"

"Nnngh. The only jobs I'm suited for in this world are ones I don't want. Why don't you just build some more machines and we'll sell them! I'm sure the archipelago of El Nido could use 'em," I replied, stirring in bed.

There was a sudden pain in my side, and when I opened my eyes to look, I saw Lucca pulling her leg back. She had kicked me! "What the hell are you talking about, kid?" she asked, but her voice was all wrong. It sounded like...

"M-Magus?" I opened my eyes, shivering. Magus was standing over me, contempt in his eyes and covered by shadows. "What's going on?"

"That's what I'd like to know. What were you talking about with the whole 'this world' and 'in the game' crap?" He pulled me off the ground, his eyes narrowing. "And just how the HELL did you know how to get through my shielding!"

"I can explain that last question by answering the first one. I come from another universe. My name's Joe. In my home Universe, this world, More accurately this adventure, is a mere game. I have, personally, beaten the game about ten times. You're one of the boss characters. I came to this world through something similar to a Time Gate, the thing we went through to reach now, something I call the Universe Gate. Unfortunately, the third time I traveled through the Gate, it sealed itself, barring me from my friends and family. Oh, and if you're wondering when we are, I'd say we're in the year 12,000 BC."

"And why should I care about that?" Magus turned his back to me and scoffed.

"Fine, let me rephrase: Welcome to your home Era, Prince Janus Zeal." I bowed as he gasped and spun around. I looked up and grinned insanely before straightening up. "I'd just like to mention: you were always my favorite character. I always chose to have you on my team. My party never fought you, except in your castle."

"And what was that you said earlier, about it being your destiny to defeat Lavos?"

"He was the Final Boss of the game. Seven people from across the space/time spectrum gathered together to defeat Lavos. Three from the year AD 1000, and one from the year AD 2300 got together at the start to keep Lavos from destroying the world in the year AD 1999. Later, they were joined by the transformed knight Glenn, called Frog, in the year AD 600. Next in the party, was the prehistoric chieftan Ayla of 65 milliion BC; and finally, there was the optional character, you could kill him or have him join the party. He was out for revenge, Lavos having ruined his life. His name was Magus. Only three of them could travel to fight Lavos, but that was merely game mechanics. In this adventure, it'll be all eight of us fighting Lavos together. Together, all of us will save the world, and your revenge shall be complete."

"Amazing, so that's what you meant by destiny. And what about that 'Prophets walk with you' comment?"

"In the game, you pose as a Prophet in the Kingdom of Zeal, due to you having lived these events. The 'walk with you' was an obscure reference to _Star Trek: Deep Space Nine_."

"Hmm. And the until we meet again?"

"There's a four person limit in time travel. There were six of us. In the game, sorry to keep saying that, it was a three person limit and the main party was sent to 65,000,000 BC. I believed I would be sent with the other four guys in the party." _'I wonder how they're reacting to my absence?'_

"Well, if we're going to survive, we're going to need a fire," Magus sat against the wall across from me. I looked around the cave and spotted some wood that looked like it was from some ornate banister.

"Can't you light the fire?"

"My magic is running on empty. If I could have done it, I would have an hour ago. But, I can barely see."

"So that's your side effect, besides being hard _to_ see." I pointed my hand at the pile of stair rails and concentrated. From my red, burnt skin burst a small ray of fire that insantly lit the wood. "I get burned, as if by the sun. I'm nearly out."

"All from that 'Final Flare' spell, right?"

"Yeah." I sat down and heared a small clink in my jacket. "Eh?" I looked in and pulled out a small potion bottle. "Hawh... (A/N: some sort of gutteral gasp) An Elixir!"

"What!" Magus looked over at me. "Where did you find that?"

"Er, in my pocket. Here, you need it more than I do. Can't have you unable to see or be seen." I walked over to Magus and put it in his hand. "What could a blind Prophet predict? Besides, we REALLY roasted your butt." He grimaced and gulped down the Elixir. Instantly, all the burn marks on his skin vanished and he returned to his normal paleness.

After I returned to my side of the fire, I thought I heard him say, "Thank you." But it was said so quietly, the voice must have been a trick of my ears. I stretched and leaned up against the cave wall. I gasped in pain as my horribly burnt skin rubbed against my shirt.

"Here." I looked up and Magus was holding a bottle of Mid Ether. "I barely hurt you, so this should help with your pain."

"Thank you, m'lord." I drank it down, and saw the red on my skin change to my normal colouring. I shook his hand and said. "We should get some sleep. In the morning we'll head to Zeal and take up Prophetic residence there."

Magus returned to his side of the cave, putting another piece of wood on the fire along the way. As he lay down to sleep, he said, "just call me Magus."

When the sun rose the next morning, Magus kicked me awake and we set out for the Sky Gate (A/N: I think that's what it was called). Just before we got on the transport pad, Magus tossed me a cloak and one of two large hats he pulled from his own "Bag of Holding." After he handed me one, I had to ask.

"Why do you even have these?"

"There were some things I couldn't even trust Ozzie, Slash, or Flea to buy. The hats were a disguise. If one got ruined, I would have used the other."

"And the giant eye just above the brim?"

"Armies do cost money you know. I put myself up as a fortune teller and predicted my own attacks."

I put the stuff on over my clothes, pulling my shades down from my hair, and I lowered my voice. "Hm. So you have practice at this prophet thing. I suppose you can disguise yourself beyond appearence."

Magus put on his hat and said, "Of course I can. I didn't want my own spys to recognize my voice." He was pretty good, his voice sounded higher, much colder and aloof.

"Then shall we find an audience with your mother?"

"She's not my mother. My mother was destroyed by Lavos and turned into something different. Something evil."

I smiled knowingly under the cloak's collar and we stepped onto the transport pad. In a flash of purple light, we were suddenly standing on an elevated platform in the middle of a grassy field. We stepped off the platform and headed for the nearest city. Along the way we agreed, still using our disguised voices, that Magus would be the Master Prophet, and I would be his apprentice. Thusly, he would be making the majority of "prophecies" then I would make a few after Crono and the rest showed up. The main variable would be as to which of the team members besides Crono and Ayla would show up, but Magus said he remembered who they were.

We headed for the nearest city, I think its name was Kajar, and we walked around, activating the secret door. I muttered the order of the books under my breath, "Water turns to Wind, Wind makes Fire dance." then I completed the circle in my mind with 'Fire boils Water.' After the door opened behind the bookcase, we entered the room. Within was a small Poyozo doll containing a shining black stone. After we left the room, we had people crowd around us asking how we knew of the room. Magus explained that we were Prophets and it was ordained that we would need the Black Stone, and were shown visions of its whereabouts.

We were asked for more visions and Magus obliged, telling them what he could remember of his days in the city. After we got enough praise, they sent word to the palace about our amazing skills, or rather about the Master Prophet and his apprentice with the "black eyes." About two days later, a messenger from the Queen arrived. When we left the room, I gasped softly, _'Crap! It's Dalton!_' Sure enough, the cyclops had come to see us "make predictions".

"So, I hear you two are able to predict the future!" He said loudly. As if he was trying to blow some sort of cover. "Why don't you tell me what's going to happen next?"

Magus nodded and said in his false voice, "I cannot tell the exact future. However, in a few moments there will be a loud noise, followed by a great mess caused by a child." Sure enough, at the end of the sentence there was a loud, yowling noise coming from our right, and a purple kitten ran out of a nearby room, with soap bubbles on her. Then the young Prince Janus came running out after Alfador, smashing into things along the way, and I noticed that his fingers were covered in small scratches. Eventually, he caught Alfador and returned to his room to continue the cat's bath.

Dalton gaped for a couple moments before he turned back to us. "Fine, you've proven your point. Come with me to the castle, Queen Zeal shall want to see your amazing abilities." Instead of taking the Sky/Earth Gates a couple more times, we got in something that looked like the Epoch with no wings, and it turned out to be a hovercraft. We "flew" over to the Palace and disembarked, our cloaks fluttering in the wind.

As we entered, Magus and I ran into Schala. She smiled and waved at us before she headed out the door and got into the Hover, and headed in the direction of Kajar. Dalton led us to the Throne Room at the back of the Palace, for our audience with the Queen. Magus and I vaguely outlined the journey of Crono's party up the part where we banished them back to where they came. It was at this point that I learned that Lucca and Glenn were the ones that were traveling with Crono and Ayla (Magus described them as "an amphibious man and a bespectacled lady").

Queen Zeal said, "Dalton, have a Nu set them up with quarters. We shall see if these Prophets are what they say. Return as soon as you finish, we need to discuss the construction of the Undersea Palace." She waved us away and Dalton handed us off to the nearest Nu, and then he went back to the Throne Room. Our quarters were like those from a hotel. they were two rooms, side-by-side, with a set of doors in between. Magus went on walks often, looking around at a world he had left behind.

I went on walks, too. Bigger ones than Magus, exploring the whole of the floating Islands. Since Magus' predictions made us famous, I had to insist I pay as much as any citizen of Zeal when I got meals. I also bought a new Crystal Sword, the Slasher not being my style. I kept it on the wall of my quarters (I planned to give it to Crono later). Eventually, I caught Dalton and asked him where I could find a place to train.

"Train? What are you talking about?" he scoffed.

"I'm a swordsman, as well as a prophet-in-training. I need to keep my skills up," I drew my sword and showed it to him. "I also have a new sword to get used to."

"Heh, just follow me. I'll show you the perfect place." He led me out to a small island behind the Palace, barely connected to the mainland by a bridge. "This is our battle platform. Ask for any opponent, and the platform will provide."

"I'm from a rather far-off place. What if the opponent isn't in the platform's database?"

"It draws from your imagination. So if you can think of it, you can fight it."

I smiled and handed Dalton my cloak and hat. "Then I'm gonna fight Lord Sephiroth, the strongest fictional character ever." The island pulsed physically under my feet. Dalton stepped off the other side of the bridge and pushed a button, withdrawing it. There was a bright light in front of my eyes as Sephiroth descended out of the sky. I drew my sword at the same time as Sephiroth, his dire katana twice as long as my sword.

I charged and Sephiroth blocked my sword, jumping off to the side and bringing his Masamune around to strike at my back. I backflipped over it and swung at his neck, making Sephiroth duck. He swung upwards, dragging the blade on the island for a little while. I slid to my left and stabbed at his side. He jumped and landed back-to-back with me. Then I heard him whisper, "Ah-mourn" or something like that, causing three pillars of fire to rise up around him. I got caught between two pillars, but because of my own magic, the flames didn't harm me. Sephiroth turned around and frowned. I grinned and breathed fire at him, by way of my modified Purification. He blocked with his arm and grimaced in pain as the clothing was ill suited for such high temperatures.

Sephiroth jumped back to the edge of the island and started waving his hands in a mystical way, leaving glowing trails. As he did so, he said, "Sin Harvester" and I noticed a red glow coming from above me and within me, when I looked up I noticed the red glow was in the shape of a halo. I looked back at Sephiroth and saw him complete the spell, causing me extreme pain. My skin suddenly turned crispy, as if I had used all my magic at once, and my vision was fading in and out of bright, furious RED.

I shakily reached into my pocket and pulled out a bottle of blue liquid, as I watched Sephiroth approach me. I drank the Mid-Ether quickly, my skin clearing up. I was still seeing in furious RED, as if it was connected to my physical pain. I quickly dismissed it and focused my magic into a ball of fire in front of my right hand, after passing my sword to my left hand. I floated into the air and cried out, "Welcome to MY Big Bang Attack!" I blasted the fireball at Sephiroth who caught it on the side of his Masamune. I rose even higher, actually hovering ten feet above the ground. Sephiroth's guard was focused on keeping my fireball away from his body, so I decided to split his attention. I created another fireball and threw at his head, yelling, "Welcome to Oblivion!" He gasped, genuinely surprised at my strength of magic and my tactics. Unfortunately, my power was so great that the double explosion of the fireballs broke the battle platform into many little fragments.

Sephiroth survived my attack, however, and grew wings. Six shimmering, white wings, and one glittering, dark wing. I don't quite remember how, but since I was flying, too, we started an ariel battle. I spun at him, head first, with my sword out, slicing vertically. Sephiroth dodged right and sliced down, but just as my sword came around. I unfolded and turned my sword, pushing along his Masamune towards his body. He quickly flew upwards to avoid the Crystal Blade. I blasted fire at him, but he blocked with a dark shield. Sephiroth blasted me with spheres of dark energy, knocking me towards the mainland. We traded sword strikes, each of us blocking the other's attacks until finally, he not only sliced at me but kicked at me, too. I coughed up blood, staining my red shirt even darker.

I flew back over the mainland, leading Sephiroth on. He sliced at me again, and when I blocked, he kicked with his other leg. That's when I blocked with my tail. _'Wait, tail?'_ I glanced down at the new serpent's tail of fire growing out of my butt. In my moment of sudden weakness, Sephiroth hit me on the head with the hilt of his sword.

I woke up in my quarters, Magus standing over me. "You IDIOT! What the hell did you go and break the battle platform for!"

"I didn't mean to..." I gasped. My voice was raspy, a side effect of my Fire Breath. "I thought it would be stronger than that. I mean, don't Zealian soldiers train there?"

"They don't have magic as strong as ours. And that's because they don't usually have battles!" He pulled me out of the bed. "And just was that beast you created?"

"That was Sephiroth, greatest villain in all of the fictional world." I pulled my coat out of his hands. "His power exceeds that of three Lavoses. By the way, what happened to him?"

"Once you fell unconsious, he vanished. Your 'Sephiroth' was an amazing sight, or so Dalton says."

"He was watching? That's just peachy. Now he knows about my Big Bang Attack and my Fire Breath move. They'll be useless when we fight."

"When you fight? Dalton gets killed?"

"Actually, he banishes himself to the realm his Golems live in. Unintentionally, I might add."

"Hm, in any case, I had to clean out your money pouch to pay for the damage. Your friends have arrived in Kajar by now. In fact, you've been out of commision for two days straight."

"Damn, Lord Sephi certainly packs a whallop. I suppose we should prepare for their arrival at the Palace." I turned around and put on my prophet ensemble, complete with shades. I lowered my voice. "Did you predict the death of one of them?"

"Huh?"

"The whole 'Black Wind howls' thing?" He gained a look of understanding and nodded. "Yeah, he might end up dying, but he'll come back soon enough. In any case, I shall make my formal apology to the Queen. Then our friends will meet the Prophets of Doom. Master," I nodded to Magus, "and Apprentice." I gestured to myself. We laughed in our false voices, in an evil sort of way.

Until the Nu outside peeked in and shushed us.

_"Black, white, magic is only magic. It is the way that it is used that makes it good or evil."_

_ -Tarreiz, The Seventh Mage_


	12. The Magic Kingdom

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter 12**

**The Magic Kingdom**

Shadic the Hedgehog

"I apologize most profusely, Your Highness," I bowed in feigned reverence. "I was unaware that your battle platform could not take such strain. Also, it appears that due to our extensive travel my Master and I have become stronger without our knowing." I grinned under my collar. _'Otherwise I wouldn't have lasted that long against Sephiroth.'_ , then I frowned. _'But where did that tail come from? And how was I flying?'_

"I accept your apology, and your fines have already been put to good use," Queen Zeal waved her hand dismissively. "Although, I must ask if you could train my soldiers to fight as well as you?"

"I would have to speak with my Master on that matter, but since I am sure they couldn't withstand even the troublemakers that are approaching, I will check on that immediately and get back to you."

"Very good. Oh, and could you get Schala here for me? She should be with her brother at the moment."

"Of course, M'lady." I bowed out of the Throne Room and encountered Magus, waiting for me. "The Queen's got my money working on the Undersea Palace, I think, and she wants me to train the Zealian soldiers in combat."

"Heh! That doesn't surprise me, after Dalton saw your display of Fire Magic. Are you ready to insult and betray your friends?"

"Err, something like that. I was a pretty good actor on my world, not that I was famous or anything. Oh, and the Queen instructed me to get Schala. Where are you and her right now? I forgot."

"I think we're-" Magus stopped talking as we saw Crono, Ayla, Lucca, and Glenn enter some room off to the side. "-in there..." He finished. "You better hurry, I'll meet you in the Throne Room."

"Right." I followed the group into the bedroom and walked up to Schala. "The Queen requests your presence." I used my lower, prophet's voice.

"Oh, all right," Schala said to me. Then she turned back to Janus, "I have to go, Mother's calling."

Janus grumped, "She's not our Mother. She's become something else. Something Evil."

Schala giggled lightly, "Well, in any case, I have to go. Take care." She walked over to me and we started out of the room, when Schala spotted Crono and the rest, I stopped next to Lucca, and looked into her eyes through my shades.

She looked... worried, almost frantic. But when she glanced at my shades she looked puzzled, then her eyes widened. Schala was asking who the team was, but I was forced to interrupt, "Miss Schala, we must hurry." Schala giggled a little and agreed and we left the room. I "led" her to the Throne Room, making sure that Crono and the gang followed. But I moved a little faster when I saw Lucca watching me inquisitively. Schala opened the door with her pendant and we stepped through, the door closing quickly behind us. I walked over to Magus as we waited for the team to enter.

"You're fidgeting," Magus noted. "Something happen?"

"I think Lucca recognized me," I whispered back. "Not sure how, since my shades are only one-way."

Just then the front door of the Throne Room slid up, Crono holding out a glowing, red pendent. Crono and the rest entered, one by one, interrupting Schala and the Queen. Schala moved to the left of the Throne, Dalton being on the right.

"These are the troublemakers we warned you about. They are here to stop the Undersea Palace project," Magus said, in his own prophet's voice.

"What are you talking about?" demanded Crono. "We're not here to stop anything except Lavos."

"You see?" I affirmed. "They want to stop you from giving your people the Eternal Life they deserve. The life only Lavos can give them."

"Eternal Life! Lavos only brings death and destruction!" cried Lucca. "Getting closer to it will only cause suffering!"

"You know nothing," Dalton said. "The Great Lavos grants us our greatest wishes. He gave us Magic, powers the engines that keeps our Kingdom in the air, and even lengthened our lifespans!"

"But thy people lie about and do nothing," protested Glenn. "They are weak and thou art doing nothing to make them stronger. This is a most grievous problem, and the only solution is to remove their dependence on Lavos!"

"If words will not open your eyes, then we'll have to use force," Queen Zeal announced. "Dalton, take them down."

Dalton nodded and made mystical signs with his hands. A black sphere appeared in the middle of the room, and a thing that looked like an upside-down ice cream cone made out of rocks with arms floated out.

Ayla walked up to the thing and patted its idiotic face, "What this? Ayla confused."

"It's a Golem, Dalton's specialty," I explained, still using my prophet's voice. "Your strengths are it's strengths."

The Queen waved her hand and a nearly transparent dome surrounded the party and the Golem. Crono drew his sword and attacked with his Confusion tech: running circles around the Golem, slicing it's sides. When he stoped moving, the Golem inhaled and spit a iron ball at him. As it flew, Ayla jumped in the air and kicked it away. She then spun around until the iron ball broke apart and mixed with some chunks of floor that had lifted out, seemingly of their own accord. Glenn began chanting and wind levitated the sphere of stone and metal. It was lifted to the ceiling and Crono finished his own spellcasting hitting the rock with a bolt of lightning from his right hand. It was absorbed by the bits of metal. Lucca added a halo of fire around the center of the rock sphere, which spread until it covered the entire surface, making the stone glow red. Glenn used the wind to toss the rock. When it hit the Golem, the stone and metal melted across the surface of the creature, the electrcity in the metal shocking the Golem. The Golem suddenly belched, filling the dome with an odd, grey gas. After a few seconds, the Golem disintegrated, making the melting stone flow back into the holes it had originally come from.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that. Apparently, Ayla has Earth Magic. She didn't in the game," I whispered to Magus.

"Then you're not much of a prophet are you?" he whispered back.

I elbowed him discreetly, smiling. "I'm only an apprentice."

The shield Queen Zeal had put up lowered. Queen Zeal said, "You're stronger than I expected. Fine, let us see how you fare against our newest and strongest fighters. The self-proclaimed Prophets of Doom!" and she pointed at me and Magus.

"The Nu must've told her our new title," I whispered. Then I spoke to the team, "The Black Wind is but one source that states of your loss. Let us fight." I drew my sword and Magus pulled out his scythe as we approached the party.

"Right, like we're going to lose to the likes of you!" Lucca exclaimed.

"I know what you can do, I've seen it before!" I charged Ayla, in order to get rid of the wild card. I swung the blade diagonally and she jumped, sending me towards Crono. He swung at me and I changed the position of my sword to block his attack. I saw it was the same one he had when we fought Magus

"I have another sword for you," I taunted. "It's right... HERE!" I reached back with my other hand and pulled out the Slasher, stopping short of cutting his neck. He jumped back in surprise and took another stance. "What, are you afraid? You should be!" I jumped into the air just as Ayla was about to hit me with a jump kick, and she continued onward, kicking a surprised Crono in the head, accidentally knocking him out.

She turned around and jumped at me again. I stopped her attack with the Slasher, and, after she landed back on the ground, I tossed the sword aside, explaining I was no good at twin blading (Heck, I'm still not very good). I jumped into the air and landed next to Magus, who had just knocked out Glenn with the back end of his scythe.

"Let's switch dance partners," Magus muttered. I nodded and walked towards Lucca. Lucca reacted by throwing a bomb at me. I swung my sword and hit the bomb with the flat of my blade, in an attempt to knock it back. But when it hit, I noticed the fuse was gone. It blew up in my face, knocking off my hat and destroying the clasp on my cloak, causing that to fall off as well.

"I thought so," said Lucca. "I thought it was you when I saw the sunglasses! I knew only one person in the time/space continuum could have those glasses. Why are you fighting us!"

"Because I have to. I'm sorry." I replied, dropping the act. I ran forward at full speed, putting my sword at my side, as if to slice with it. But, instead I dropped it and slammed her head with mine, knocking us both out.

Everything I heard later was fuzzy, as if I was only half awake.

_"What is the meaning of this?" _yelled Queen Zeal's voice.

_"It appears my so-called 'apprentice' was once a part of this group of troublemakers," _said the cold voice of The Prophet.

_"Not a very good Prophet, then, are you?" _laughed Dalton's voice.

_"I only do the future, I cannot see the past."_ Had I been concious, I would have smiled: Magus was keeping to our idea of how I was going rejoin the group. I was going to "betray" him and rejoin them by running through the gate after them, this just meant he would have to extend the betrayer thing a little bit further. Something picked me up, just before I became completely unconcious, and carried me.

I woke up later, though I am unsure to this day as of how long it was, to the sight of Schala and Janus, the latter keeping a lookout. Schala handed me my sword, which I immediately sheathed. And when Crono awoke she handed him the Slasher which he exchanged with his other sword.

"I have something to ask of you," Schala said, as soon as the rest of the team was awakened. "Could you stop my mother?"

"If it has anything to do with Lavos, we'll do it," Crono said, stepping in front of me.

"Then it's too bad that I can't allow you to interfere," Magus, as the Prophet, entered the room, gently pushing himself, AKA Janus, aside. "Now then, show me how you got here or the Princess will die." He pointed his hand at Schala and it glowed black.

Crono threw an arm aside, stopping Ayla and Lucca from doing anything. "Fine, just follow us." I stayed at the back of the group as Crono led the way to the Time Gate in the cave. It was the same one that Magus and I had spent the night in after that first major battle.

"I see. After they go through, it will be up to you, Princess, to seal their gateway." Lucca opened the Time Gate and we all stepped through. Then "the Prophet" faced me, "Don't you dare show your face around here again, traitor. To think I started teaching you the power of Prophecy only to have you join the people trying to stop the Great Lavos." This was a rehearsed speech, but it seemed to have more bite than it should have for something so rehearsed.

The Gate closed and we were sent through the whirl of blue and purple, emerging in the crater in 65 million BC, the spot where Lavos fell.

Crono and the group walked forward a ways, I was still trailing, and stopped, turning to face me. I kept walking 'til I was in the middle of the group.

"I'm sorry guys," I said, looking down. "I didn't want to fight you, but I didn't know the Queen would have me and the Prophet do that. I was only trying to keep my cover!"

"Look at me," spat Crono. I looked up and into his eyes. He was glaring at me, hatred in his eyes and the rest of his face. He pulled back his fist and slugged me right in the jaw. I stumbled over to Ayla, who kicked me in the shoulder. I turned around and walked up to Lucca, who was looking about as pissed as Crono, and she backhanded me. I moved to Glenn, dropping to my knees in case he wanted to hit me, too.

"Rise, Joe. I believe thou hath suffered enough for the trouble thy absence gave us," Glenn said. Suddenly, I felt a pair of arms around my shoulders.

"You had us all so worried, myself especially," said Lucca. I felt warm spots of water land on the back of my neck.

"Ayla console friends for two days before friends start search for Joe. It not until Laruba Village burn that they stop searching!" Ayla laughed, then reconsidered, deciding that the burning village wasn't something to laugh about.

Crono kneeled next to Glenn and looked into my eyes, "When we didn't see you or Magus when we woke up, we thought that whenever you had shown up at, Magus would have killed you with your father's sword. It was difficult enough going through that, let alone the Tyrano Fortress." I felt Lucca's warmth move off my back and her feet appeared next to Crono, and Ayla's next to Glenn. Crono held out his hand. "Now, let's get you back to the End of Time. Marle and Robo are worried about you, too."

I took his hand and he helped pick me up, leading us back to the Pterodactyls. The trouble was: there were only four, and Kino was still there waiting. After exchanging pleasentries, we tried to figure out who I was going to sit with, finally going with Lucca. We flew back to the Mystic Mountains, dropping off Kino at Ioka along the way, and we jumped into the Time Gate (The only reason we didn't use the crater Gate was because it was covered with a pinkish-purple pyramid).

_"Necg pek, feh pek." (Risk big, win big)_

_ -Cid, Final Fantasy X_


	13. Wingless Time

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter 13**

**Wingless Time**

Shadic the Hedgehog

Upon returning to the End of Time, I explained my story to Marle, Robo, and the rest. With a few modifications, like: "I'm not sure what happened to Magus, but when I met the Prophet, I remembered his role in the game and joined up with him." That sort of thing. In any case, after I detailed the fight between Magus, myself, and the rest of the party, Marle hit me on top of the head, causing Ayla to hit me hard on the back, thinking it was some sort of game.

I complained, "This just isn't my day..." and we all had a big laugh. I took a small rest and when I woke up, we discussed plans to fight Lavos. I told them that Lavos' weakest moments would be as close to the year 65 million BC as we could get.

"That would be 12,000 BC. But the Gate was locked, so how art we supposed to return?" asked Glenn.

"A device called the Epoch. It's a time machine that should be able to bypass any restriction on Gate travel," I explained.

"Is that true? Then where is this machine?" wondered Robo.

"Your time, actually. It was being built in the place called Keeper's Dome."

"Who could be constructing this?"

"Well, let's see. The Guru of Life makes deadly weapons, the Guru of Time is living out of time, and the Guru of Reason has gone mad. Without reason, it's pretty easy to think you can build something to break the boundries of time and space. Belthasar finished the project, at about the same time as when he died. He's still there, though: he implanted his mind in a robotic version of a Nu."

"Fascinating. I have a map of the sewer system that leads to Keeper's Dome in my databanks, perhaps together we can get to this 'Epoch.'"

"Yeah, good idea. Who else should come?"

"How about Marle and..." Crono looked around. "Glenn. The two of them should be able to help with healing, and because you're all pretty powerful, the mutants shouldn't be much of a problem. Just be sure you come back for me before you go to fight Lavos. I wanna take a crack at that damn beast."

We all nodded and headed off to the Pillar Room, stepping into the one with the plate stating, "Proto Dome, AD 2300," and activating the Gate Key. We shot off into the murky darkness, traveling through the time stream to the place and time where we found Robo. After arriving at the other end of the Gateway, we immediately headed off to Lab 32, where we found Jonny and the other robots racing with the Aeon, my old car.

"Hey! Jonny! How ya been?" I asked. "I see you refueled my car!"

"Oh, I did way, WAY more than that, sonny! I boosted the whole dang system and turned it into a robot! Uh huh." Jonny laughed. "Right after that, it started to request even more upgrades, and now it's a super, duper, evil-fightin' machine!"

"Really, now? You were able to take my primitive tech and turn it into something cool?"

The car drove up to me and nudged my leg, " 2 n07 j002 73ch 4n//\/\023, d00d! i \/\/45 13373d 4nd 8310n6 70 /\/\/531f! i 2 62473fu1 7h0u6h. i 2 62473fu1 7h47 j00 820u6h7 /\/\3 h323!" I looked down and blinked. My old, beat up Ford was talking in 1337-speak (which was very difficult to understand when spoken), and it's headlights were blinking like eyes and were even swiveling up to look at me.

"Well, that's certainly interesting," I patted the hood and it revved, almost indignant. "Oh, sorry. I forgot that you were sentient for a moment. Well, you said you were grateful that I brought you here, and I must say that I am, too. You were certainly a big help on the way here, carrying us and all."

"n07hin6 70 i7! 4f732 411, i \/\/45n'7 4\/\/423 47 7h3 7/\/\3. \/\/h47 j00 d0in6 84ck h323?"

After Robo and I translated the car's new language, Robo replied, "We are on our way to Keeper's Dome just south of here, where we are hoping to procure a time machine."

"4 7i/\/\3 /\/\4(hin3? 7h47 50und5 1337! \/\/4n7 /\/\3 70 6i\/3 j00 4 1if7?"

"...Why not? Just get us to the sewers, we will go to Keeper's Dome from there."

"n0, n0, i in5i57. i'11 74k3 j00 7h3 \/\/h013 \/\/4/!"

Robo's eyes blinked a few times, "Thank you! Would you like payment for your trouble?"

"i7'5 n0 720u813 47 411! i7'5 ju57 50 u832 1337 70 533 j00! \/\/007!one!11111!one1one!"

Well, we piled in and the car hovered in a circle before it took off across the Labs. As soon as it left the Labs, it rocketed towards the island, Robo giving it advice along the way with an ethernet hook-up. We made it across the sea in less than four hours, which would normally have taken us about six days.

The Aeon dropped me off at the entrance and I thanked it in 1337, "d00d! u 2 50 f234kin 1337!1!1"

"j00 2 50 \/\/31c0/\/\3!one1one!" The Aeon honked twice and flew away, using its left turn indicator to wave goodbye.

We walked into the dome and, unlike Arris Dome, it went directly to the central section. We headed up to the top of the room, and encountered a Robo-Nu "asleep" against a wall. Ignoring it, I asked for the pendant. Marle handed it to me and I held it up to the blue, glowing door. The door shone brightly and flew upward into the ceiling at extremely high speeds. I stepped through first, being right in front of the door, and everyone else followed. As soon as I stepped on the first platform, there was a slight glow and several small dots appeared on all the other platforms.

"Ignore those," I said, walking around the room. "They're only little messages left by Belthasar."

Robo, at the back of the line, was stopping occasionally to pick up each of the little message recordings. He caught up quickly (of course he did, he's a robot), and made it just in time for me to open the final door to the Epoch. We walked through the door and I realized that it wasn't only the Arris Dome computer that was larger on this side of the screen. The Epoch was immense, but, because it was on something similar to landing gears, I had to look up at it, making it seem even larger.

Robo glanced at all sides (except the top) and wondered three things: "Which side is the front? How do we sit in it? And what runs the Time Machine?"

"As far as I know, it's run by an Infinite Improbability Machine, and the seats will soon be brought by Robo-Belthasar. The direction of the seats should tell you which side is the front," I answered. Sure enough, the door slid open and in rolled a set of four chairs, followed by Robo-Belthasar.

"Ah, you're here. Excellent," Belthasar said, clapping his hands together. "I assume you're here for the Epoch?"

I blinked in surprise, "Uh, yeah. How'd you know?"

He laughed. "I recall from this Era's databanks two people, of the description of you two," he pointed at myself and Marle, "and two others, disappearing in a sphere of blue light. And I recalled that I came to now through a similar sphere. Thusly, you are Time Travelers in need of a way to reach somewhere you otherwise could not. I remember Melchior telling me about four travelers that saved his life and apparently got a time machine from me. So when I got here, I started building this! I hope that answers any and all questions you might have."

"Yeah," blinked Marle. "I think it did. Well, everyone, let's get in!"

"Right!" We chorused. I sat down in the front-right seat and Robo sat to my left and Marle and Glenn sat in back. Robo-Belthasar continued to push the seats up under the Epoch and pushed a button the ground. The main body of the Epoch began to lower, until it connected with the platform the chairs were on.

I looked at the dashboard in front of me to discover that I had picked the wrong seat: instead of Robo getting the controls, _I_ had gotten them.

"Alright guys, lets head back to the End of Time and pick up Crono and Lucca. We're going to rescue Melchior, and I, at least, want what Melchior saw back then to be the same thing he's going to see." I saw Marle and Glen blink in my rear-view mirror and I sighed. "Time travel, it's filled with confusing grammer."

I set the Time Dial past the year AD 2300, our current time and the last one on the dial, and pushed the button labeled "Y." Don't ask me why, 'cause I really don't know. Anyway, as soon as I pushed the button, the Epoch began humming, first at a low C, then the pitch steadily grew until it went past human hearing. There was a bright flash of light and suddenly we were traveling through what seemed to be a stream of Fire rushing along in our direction.

"Beautiful..." whispered Marle.

"Aye, 'tis truly amazing," mumured Glenn.

"So this is Time Travel outside of Gates. I wish I could study it further," Robo, of course. I I was simply awestruck. Suddenly, the fiery Time Stream faded from sight and we were surrounded by the murky darkness of the End of Time. I pushed the "Open/Close Cockpit" button and we jumped out of the seats. Marle wasn't sure if she could do it at first, but I reassured her that she could really jump that high.

We walked to the center of the platform and everyone gathere around us. Robo told everyone that we were ready, but needed to switch him and Marle with Crono and Lucca to keep the Time/Space continuum correct. Or something like that. I jumped in back with Lucca, while Crono and Glenn sat up front. I had to explain to Crono that all he had to do was set the dial to the desired time, in this case 12,000 BC, and push the "Y" button. It was then that I realized why it was labeled that: to keep the game mechanics straight.

This time, when we went rushing through time the Time Stream outside the Cockpit, The stream was rushing in the direction opposite us, and the Epoch seemed to be moving slower, as if there was a resisting force involved.

_"Time travel, it's a cornucopia of disturbing concepts,"_

_ -Ron Stoppable, Kim Possible: a Sitch in Time_


	14. The Fall of Zeal

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter 14**

**The Fall of Zeal**

By: Shadic the Hedgehog

"Alright peoples, let's see who's going to take down the Kingdom of Zeal," I said. Everyone was gathered around the lamppost at the End of Time, as we prepared to use our new time machine, the Epoch, to assault the floating kingdom. "We'll need to take Crono and Lucca with us, and there's something Glenn should see there. But Ayla will be useful there, too… This _is_ a mighty problem."

"And what about the rest of us?" Marle asked. "We're just supposed to twiddle our thumbs or simply keep reading this whole time? Come on, We're not _that_ useless are we?"

"Of course not! For instance, you learn the greatest of all the cure spells and in combo with Crono and Glenn can create what's basically an extra life for the whole party! Robo's lasers count like Shadow spells, and can work with Crono and Ayla for a flurry of tornadoes! But don't worry about being left behind when we finally destroy Lavos. I'll make sure we're all there one way or another."

"Oh."

"Anyway," interrupted Crono, "We still need to figure out who's going to take down Zeal. Joe's going, because he's our personal 'Prophet.'" I scowled slightly as he smirked. "I'm going to fight Lavos personally."

"Glenn actually _has_ to go, " I realized. "Otherwise we'll have a temporal continuity error. Melchior said he remembered Glenn being there when we rescued him, so we'll have to take him along."

"So that means it's one of you four left to choose from," Crono nodded. "How're we gonna decide that?"

"Janken."

"What?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. I thought Japanese-based characters would know Japanese terms. "Rock, paper, scissors. I just prefer to use the Japanese title since it's shorter."

"Hmm, What do you think, guys?"

"Let's do it," Lucca replied.

"Sounds like fun!" Marle agreed.

"What paper, scissors?" Ayla wondered, making Marle sigh and explain. Ayla was as confused as everyone else as to how paper beat rock.

"It should be sufficiently random," Robo replied.

Once Ayla realized it was pointless to ask questions, they all got into a group and started Janken. In the first round, Marle was eliminated because she was the only one who picked scissors while everyone else had picked rock. Ayla was next when both Lucca and Robo picked paper (the girl is obsessed with rocks). Then they picked rock again, then scissors, and so on until finally, Lucca won with an unexpected paper, when everyone had been expecting scissors and Robo threw out rock.

"Yes! Looks like I go with ya!" Lucca cheered. Everyone nodded and the team headed off to the Epoch. We piled in, myself once again at the helm, and I set the dial for 12,000 BC and pushed the "y" button. Once again we shot off through time, but this time it seemed a little slower, as if we were struggling against the stream, but anyways, we re-appeared in 12,000 BC in the middle of the constant blizzard.

I guided us north, towards the Earthbound Village, and it was then that I found out that Crono and Lucca _had_ gone that way, but the ladder up to the village itself had been out of reach. It wasn't this time, and I couldn't explain why it was down this time. Regardless, we climbed the ladder and headed into the system of caves.

"Let's go over there first," I said, pointing to the first cave. "That's where the Earthbound chief lives and we'll want to introduce ourselves before we go and save the Guru of Life."

We walked in and introduced ourselves. We declared our intentions and the chief sighed.

"If you want to throw your lives away, go right ahead. The anchor of Mount Woe is guarded by-"

"A Mud imp, a Red Beast, and a Blue Beast. As well as two pairs of plain Beasts along the path there," I interrupted. "We are well aware of the dangers, and intend to save Melchior nonetheless."

The chief was taken aback. "Well, then I suppose it's only right to let you take shelter here. There is a guest room the next cave down and the guy who attends the room also sells goods."

We said our thanks and headed out the doorway. We bought a few potions and ethers with the gold we had with us, and stayed the night. The next morning we said our thanks to the "manager" and headed to the bottom level of the cave system. We walked through the entrance to the Anchor of Woe Cavern (I named it that, even though it wouldn't be around for much longer) and moved down the path. We encountered the first pair of beasts and I managed to slice a good line down the side of one before it knocked me back against the wall with a single paw. I watched blearily for a second while Crono dealt with the same creature as me and Glenn and Lucca worked together against the second beast.

I got back up and Crono and I performed Slash-Cut, my sword going right along the Beast's spine. Meanwhile, Glenn and Lucca had just finished off their Beast with a well-thrown grenade down its throat. We continued down the path and fought of the second pair of Beasts in much the same way.

Then we reached the end of the cavern. The Red and Blue Beasts moved in front of us and roared, which summoned the Mud Imp from the top of the chain.

The Imp yelled, "None may pass!"

"We're going to anyway!" I yelled and pulled out my sword, charging. A split second before I would hit the Imp, I jumped to the side and struck the Blue Beast, while Crono caught the surprised Imp with a Confusion attack. Glenn did a Meteor Stab attack (He used his Wind to throw himself into the air and fall, sword first, on top of his target) to the Red Beast. Lucca was busy casting the Protect spell on all of us, then joined us by throwing Grenades at the Mud Imp. After a steady bombardment of Grenades, the Imp disintegrated, leaving the beasts. I had already warned them not to use direct attack magic, as I had forgotten whether they absorb Fire or Ice, and if it's the same colour or the opposite colour, so we stuck with physical attacks. I sliced through the Blue Beast with a Cross-Slash, while Lucca was shooting it in the back. Meanwhile, Crono and Glenn's Red Beast was nearly ribbons already.

It took us nearly a half-hour of fighting to kill them, and, since we were all bloody and bruised, we pulled a magical collapsible tent out of our Bag of Holding and set it up. Then we realized we needed two. We did Janken again to see who would be tenting with who, and I got stuck with Glenn. I slipped into my sleeping bag and curled up at the bottom to shut out all light before I could get to sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night to a bubbly snore from right next to me, and a whispered conversation from the tent next door.

"Really? You think so?" whispered Crono's voice.

"Yeah," replied Lucca with a sigh. "I can't believe it though. Why him?"

"You never know who it could be."

"What, like you and Marle?" Crono coughed lightly. "Don't think nobody's noticed. It's perfectly obvious to everyone _except_ Marle, that you _like_ her."

"Please, just don't tell her. I'd be way too embarrassed."

"Oh, come on. If you're going to be king someday, you'll half to get over the small things like that."

"Whaddya mean, 'be king?' I can't exactly rule a country I'm wanted in, can I?"

"Heh heh. I actually skipped ahead in the game further than Joe thinks I did. I saw the ending. We get pardoned thanks to us having saved the world." I was shocked! Lucca went behind my back even more than to the End of Time!

"How did you get to the end so fast? From what I've heard from Joe so far, it seems to be a rather complicated adventure."

"I experimented with the other buttons on the keyboard, and when I hit the button marked 'F1' I was suddenly zipped ahead to the final 'dungeon.' but enough of this tale, and don't tell Joe I did that, got it?"

"Right. But you know, somethin's been bugging me about Joe." I calmed down slightly to listen to this part.

"What's that?"

"When we spent the night over at your house, after our first trip to the End of Time, I got up for a bit and had a snack with Joe, and it seems that in his world, he created beings by the same name as the Divine Protectors."

"Really? That _is_ kinda freaky."

"But that's not the half of it. Remember the shade behind Joe when he got magic? That's one of them, or so Joe thinks."

"Which one?"

"Isn't it obvious? _Fire_ magic has to mean Barog _Fire_storm! _I_ think that means he was sent by Barog, but he doesn't believe me."

"Wow, I can't believe I'm…" I didn't catch the rest, because I ended up falling asleep again. I blinked and found myself being woken by Glenn.

"Get thee up, Joe. We are to ascend the Mountain of Woe this morning."

"Right, right…" I crawled out of my sleeping bag and stretched, cracking my back, my neck, my wrists and my fingers. "Sleep well?" I cleaned the sleepies out of my eyes and headed out of the tent. I've never been a morning person.

"Well enough. Shall we be off?"

"Yeah," replied Crono. "The chain's not too bad of a climb, and I'm sure Joe can guide us the rest of the way when he finishes waking up. Let's just wait for Lucca."

"My brain wakes up just fine," I yawned. "It's my body that has trouble catching up." I looked around to see Lucca coming back to us with weird looking animals in a net.

"Here's breakfast!" she said cheerily. "Already cooked thanks to my fire magic!" I took mine from her, wondering how she could be so… so… PERKY in the morning! I mean she had to have stayed up half the night talking to Crono about me. '_Hey, that's right… I remember now, she talked at one point about skipping ahead further than she already told me about.' _Remembering that sort of irked me, so I ate in silence. Well, more silent than usual, and climbed in complete silence. When we reached the top I led the way, only speaking when I had to, and finishing off every battle as fast as I could.

My least favourite opponent was the Gravel creature. It was hard to fight without being able to use magic, since I'd become so used to it. But finally, and after getting lost a couple times, we made it to the final chain bridge of Mount Woe. We took a break at that end, next to a Safe Sphere in the area, and then headed across the chain. As we walked I detailed the big boss ahead: Giga Gaia. He was going to be one of our toughest fights ever.

As soon as we reached the top, we spotted the chrysalis that contained Melchior. I stepped closer, in hopes of breaking the spell _before_ G.G. showed up. I was unsuccessful. The magical cocoon vanished and the mountain began to shake. Giga Gaia popped up directly in front of me, practically knocking me over. Then his ands appeared and he lead off with his devastator combo: Twin Flare, followed by a Shadow-type spell. After a quick moment to collect ourselves, we attacked the right hand (the hand to our right, anyway) all at once.

Crono used Confusion, while I used Sonic Blade from below, Glenn came down with a Meteor Stab, and Lucca prepared a Mega Bomb to throw. We moved away from the hand as she threw it, blowing up the hand. Then we moved our attention to the head. I blasted it with a Gallick Gun, while Crono used Special Beam Cannon. Lucca followed after with a Fire Twister dual spell with Glenn. Then we began slicing up the head like we did the hand, though we had to stop every once in a while and destroy the re-spawned hand.

"Alright guys," Crono said. "Time for that new combo attack!" Glenn and Crono whipped up a lightning storm, while Lucca and I powered up major fire spells. Tornados began touching down all around us as Lucca and I erupted, sending the flames towards the storm itself. The tornados began flaming and fire rained from the clouds, striking all over Giga Gaia himself. The hands, including the one that had just regenerated, disintegrated and the onslaught continued. Giga Gaia began to break up and vanish quickly afterwards. The storm subsided and we all began showing our magical side effects. I turned red, Lucca began sweating profusely, Crono twitched like a madman, and Glenn fell on his butt and couldn't sand up from how dizzy he was. Melchior's cocoon reappeared and began falling apart. Melchior himself appeared and glanced about.

"Oh my. It seems you four used a bit too much magic in freeing me. Here," He tossed a blue orb at us and it split, healing us all. Suddenly, the mountain began to shake. "The Mountain! It's falling apart! Hurry, to Terra Cave!" Glenn picked us all up with Wind 2 and sped us quickly to the cavern just outside the village. We ran the rest of the way to the chieftain's house. Outside there was a crashing sound as Mount Woe slammed into the ocean. We collapsed from pure exhaustion and spent the night at the chieftain's house.

The next morning, we listened to Melchior's rant about the Queen's new behaviour, and he handed us the Ruby Knife, to use against the Mammon Machine. Just then, the curtain in the doorway moved aside, revealing Schala and the young Prince Janus.

"Oh my, Melchior! We thought you must have been freed when Mount Woe collapsed," Schala said as she entered. Janus entered behind her, muttering about the dirty state of the cave. Schala hushed him and turned to face us. "And it must have been the four of you that freed him!"

"Yes, they did free me," Melchior replied. "Now, what are you doing down here?"

"Mother was going to force me into working the Mammon Machine, but since it can't work with_out_ me I've run away."

"Which is why _I'm_ here," chuckled a voice just outside the cave. I recognized that voice and growled.

"Dalton."

"That's right. And I'm here to take Princess Schala back to her mother. She's very worried." Dalton swaggered into the cave and took Schala by the arm.

We began drawing our weapons and Dalton pulled out a dagger, pressing it against Schala's throat. "Not a step closer, or a weapon fired, or I'll cut her throat."

"Empty threat, Dalton," I growled. "You can't work the Mammon Machine without her. So if you kill her, there go your dreams of immortality."

"Hmm… You're right," Dalton looked thoughtful and glanced around the room. Schala burst.

"Janus! Run!" Dalton laughed evilly as he swooped down upon the young Magus.

"_Now_ you'll listen. I take Schala with me, or the prince here gets killed."

Crono looked to me for clarification and I shook my head, "Janus is important to future events. We'll have to comply." Everyone put their weapons away and we moved aside as Dalton carried Janus and pushed Schala out the door. Once Dalton was gone I swore and punched the wall (Bad idea, as it turns out. My hand was throbbing for the next hour).

We left quickly, heading for the first Sky Gate. We moved as fast as we could, even stealing a hovercraft so that we didn't have to go the roundabout route. (I was glad I spent so much time exploring Kajar, I knew where to find what we needed). We flew straight to the palace, and go out quickly. We flew up the stairs that Masa and Mune were often standing on and into the throne room. We paused for a second to open the Throne Room door, and made it in just in time to see Dalton transport Schala down to the Undersea Palace.

"You're faster than I expected," Dalton proclaimed. "I guess I should leave you little going away present." He waved his hand and a dark sphere appeared, he then jumped into the Point-to-Point Gate and a Golem appeared. We dispatched the Golem quickly, using the as many elements as possible in the shortest amount of time to confuse the Golem's senses. Suddenly the Golem belched so loud that it shook the throne room. We caught a whiff of the burp and practically swooned from the stench. Glenn cleared the room of the horrible stench quickly and we all jumped down into the Undersea Gate.

We arrived on the highest floor of the Undersea palace and encountered Masa and Mune. They explained the situation, and vanished. We headed on down as fast as we could, getting stopped once by a puzzle I always had a bit of trouble with. We made it to the two double switches that concealed the way to the Mammon Machine and quickly completed that little trick. We ran along the path, resting momentarily for Glenn's Cure spell and a few Ethers and we ran in. I nearly had Dalton. I could've cut his head off if I hadn't suddenly remembered his importance to the story: he gave time it's wings. Allowed the Epoch to fly.

He panicked and this time summoned the Golem Twins, Trapping us once more in a one-way bubble. We took out both Golems with a single Firestorm, and this time we almost passed out from the smell. Dalton lowered the shield and prepared to take off our heads himself when there was an ear splitting, gut wrenching roar.

"I'd love to stay and kill you, but immortality awaits!" he laughed and flew off to the other end of the hall. Glenn once again cleared away the smell and we breathed in a deep lungful of fresh air. We each drank one of the four Elixirs we found on the way down, and headed through the door to the Mammon Machine. The Door to Greed.

We charged ahead as fast as we could, Lucca making hasty modifications to her gun so that it could fire the Ruby Dagger into the Mammon Machine at full force. I glanced to either side of us as we ran and I saw Masa and Mune flying alongside us. I stopped quickly near the middle of the group of Zealians, and as Lucca fired the Dagger, Masa and Mune flew into it, to empower the dagger. When it hit I saw another sword appear.

"Impossible…" I whispered. It was my father's sword, now the Murasame, puncturing the Machine just underneath the newly created Masamune.

"The dagger has become the Masamune!" exclaimed Glenn.

"Which is precisely why I wanted you along in the first place, Glenn, paradoxes aside: To see the origin of your sword." I was still in awe from the appearance of the Murasame, though. Schala fell to the ground as the Queen turned.

"It's too late!" screamed Queen Zeal in glee. "Immortality is OURS!"

The horrible, screaming roar sounded again as we were suddenly immersed in the Space between Time: Lavos' Dimension. The party hastily drew their weapons, and we assaulted Lavos with everything we had. But almost immediately after exhausting ourselves I heard a voice in my head.

"PITIFUL MORTALS. YOU DO NOT STAND A CHANCE AGAINST ME," My head seemed to burst from the Psychic Volume. "YOUR DESTRUCTION SHALL RAIN FROM THE HEAVENS!" from Lavos' shell came a multitude of lasers that fired into the "sky" and came back down, blowing us all to half-consciousness. I watched blearily as Magus attempted to stand up against Lavos, but only succeeded in breaking the Murasame. I blacked out momentarily, but came to in time to hear the most horrifying sentence ever:

"Lucca, what are you doing?" I snapped my eyes open and saw Lucca stumbling towards Lavos' Eye. She turned towards Crono and gave him a thumbs up.

"Saving your life, I think," she replied. She turned towards me, myself too weak to move, tears were streaming down her face. "And the rest of the world's…"

She began gathering magic, I could somehow see the energies flowing about her, building up more power than she really was supposed to have. Then I realized it: she was attempting to cast a spell as powerful as my Final Flare, but without as much fire reserves, she pushing to use her own life force in the spell.

I somehow made it to my feet, though I don't remember standing up. Lavos opened his eye and laughed a deep and terrible laugh in my brain. He began stealing the energy Lucca was gathering, and was turning it into a Disintegrator beam. He fired it off, and Lucca vanished from my sight.

A teardrop hit my cheek. Coming from where Lucca had stood. I was in momentary disbelief. Then came the anger. The ALL POWERFUL ANGER! My vision turned red, flames began growing around me, and I let out a bloody roar that expressed my feelings to the world. Then I knew no more.

"_Rage is just like any other weapon: _you _have to use _it _not let _it _use _you_."_

_-Barog Firestorm (A/N: I was kinda grasping for a quote, so I went for something of my own)_


	15. Revelations

Shadic: Before I get started, I'd like to thank those of you that have reviewed. And thank you for pointing out my little typo of Ocean Palace/Undersea Palace. I seem to be on a writing spree this week, so expect Ch. 16 soon! I won't hold you any longer, so get reading!

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter 15**

**Revelations**

By: Shadic the Hedgehog

I woke up staring at the ceiling of a hut. I sat up and glanced around. Crono and Glenn were over on the other side of the hut, whispering something. Crono glanced in my direction and grabbed Glenn's shoulder to spin him around. I stood up and asked them a question.

"What's going on?" I noticed my voice sounded like my throat was filled with phlegm. Crono and Glenn just continued staring, as if in awe or… could it have been fear? "I asked you what's going on! ANSWER ME!" I felt the rage rise up, unbidden. Then I looked about once more. "Wait…" my rage evaporated. "Where's Lucca?" Then it came to me. The last thing I saw before I blacked out: Lucca sacrificing her life. "It wasn't supposed to be her! It wasn't… supposed to be her…" I fell to my knees.

'_Why…? Why can't I… cry?'_ I was sobbing, the saddest I had ever been, but no tears sprang forth. I punched the ground in my sudden anger and felt it give way, but quickly jerked it back from a massive surge of pain. I felt steam rise from the hole I punched. Curious, I glanced at my hand and gasped in horror. My hand was red. And covered in scales. With claws on the ends of my fingers instead of fingernails. I looked over my shoulder, suspicious, and, sure enough, there was a large, leathery, red wing obstructing my view.

I began laughing hysterically, "I see… You were right, Crono. Well, sort of. I'm not an _emissary_ of Barog Firestorm. I AM Barog Firestorm!" I laughed a little more. "However, if I remember my own biggest weakness: I can't quite control my emotions. Let's just hope I can return to human form!" I groaned in pain as my wings and tail (yes, that's right, I had a tail) were being pulled slowly into my body. I was then swept over by a wave of flame that removed all the scales from my skin. There were some popping sounds, as well as a bit of pain, as my bones re-aligned (turns out I'm taller as Barog). Then I shook myself and blinked a couple times. "Wow, that hurt."

"But, My Lord, where be Lucca?" Glenn asked, still in awe. I felt something running down my face, and reached up to investigate. Tears. At last.

Crono answered Glenn his voice flat, "She's gone."

"Wherefore dost thou say 'gone?'"

"It's like he said, Glenn," I replied, tears still flowing, "she's gone. She died trying to destroy Lavos. But what about what happened afterwards? What happened to me, to make me Barog?"

Crono answered me, "Well, that what really freaked us out… There was this roar of rage as Lucca vanished, and, as it had come from your direction, I looked over. You were surrounded by flames of an almost unnatural heat. As I watched you transform, I realized just what you had said a little bit ago: that you _were_ Barog Firestorm. You flew at Lavos and began carving chunks out of his shell and his eyelid.

"After that proved ineffective, you moved back and built up a ginormous fireball. You let it loose in a stream at Lavos' eye. It apparently hurt him a great deal, because he shrieked audibly. You stopped your assault and laughed, probably reveling in your power, which allowed Lavos a chance to blast you with some sort of ray. Like what got Lucca. Thankfully, it only knocked you out."

As Crono finished his tale, the Earthbound Elder entered the hut. He spoke to Crono for a little while then headed back out. We spent the night getting _real_ sleep and in the morning we headed for the Commons to recover the Epoch, which survived and got wedged at the base of the mountain between some very hardy trees.

As we prepared to speak with the Elder, some fireballs flew in and exploded to either side of us. We spun around and I cursed. I had been so intent on grieving that I forgot all about Dalton's coup. We drew our swords and stood ready.

Dalton's guards flew in, making a path to us from the entrance. Dalton himself flew up to us just then and declared to everyone that he was now "King Dalton."

"You will never rule here, Dalton!" Crono spat.

"Hmph," Dalton turned around. "I recognize you three as the upstarts that tried to take out Lavos! If take you out, then I'll _never_ be defeated!" Dalton waved his hand and a fireball flew at us. I stepped in its path and took the full force of the blow. Dalton began laughing, thinking he'd won.

"You're pitiful magic is no match for the God of Fire!" I laughed, dissipating the smoke with a couple beats with my wings. Yes, I had turned back into Barog, despite my mental instability.

"Then let's seen you handle this!" He waved his hand again and Crono and Glenn tensed. The relaxed two seconds later, when nothing appeared, and were taken from behind. So was I, as a matter of fact. It helped that whoever it was had hit the base of my skull with their staff, I think. I can't quite remember: I was falling unconscious.

---------------------------------------------

I woke with a headache that was probably caused by the vibration of my head against the floor, which appeared to be slightly melted where I was laying. I stood up and reverted to my human form, and just as I was about to rouse the other there was a flash of… something. It looked like a… memory?

--------------------------

_There was a massive storm approaching, worse than any that had ever occurred throughout the Shadows. I heard a voice behind me, a voice that I knew commanded even _my _respect, yell something._

"_Don't worry, Corwin! We'll keep the Chaos at bay!"_

"_You just finish the Pattern and we'll take it from there!" called someone else from my left. The voice was so confident as to be considered arrogant, but flowed like water through the air._

_Through my feet, I heard from my right, "Barog. Once we finish with this, will you set a dragon as a guardian?"_

"_I was planning on doing that anyway, Gaia," I yelled back. "I'll probably leave a Blood Dragon so that only Corwin's family will be able to approach this new Pattern." As and after thought I added, "and us, just in case."_

_The scene began to fade out. The last words I heard were from the person to my left. "Why don't we call it the Progress instead?"_

'Odd pronunciation,' _I thought. It sounded like Pro (like professional)-gress. _

--------------------------

"..oe! Joe! Wake up!" Crono was shaking me.

I sat up, Crono and Glenn moving aside. "I'm fine, I'm fine. I just had a flashback. On of my other's memories. The drawing of… the Progress?"

"The Progress!" exclaimed Glenn. "The mythical symbol that brought the world into being!"

"I guess you could say that… But really, it only made this world _real_. I heard an interesting name while I was remembering: Corwin." I stood up and rubbed my forehead. "I suspect that his full name was Corwin of Amber. And I have a book that explains some of his history. Only problem is, we, the Elementals, aren't mentioned in it at all."

"We can talk about that later," Crono interrupted. "Right now we need to get our stuff back and get out of here."

"Right." I walked them over to the ventilation shaft that was remarkably large enough that we could walk around in it comfortably. '_Now this is something good villains would _never _do,'_ I chuckled mentally.

We wandered a little bit until we found the main hanger, where Dalton was refitting the Epoch with wings. We watched for a moment until we knew what we needed to know about what he was doing. As we stood to go, I had another flashback.

--------------------------

_A guy with blue skin and flowing aquamarine hair was grinning at me. I knew him to be Frigida, my brother. The arrogant God of Water. He was saying something, "So what'll be _your _contribution to the Progress?"_

"_As I said to Gaia earlier: there will be a Blood Dragon watching over the new Pattern," I replied, scornfully._

"_I mean besides that." Frigida laughed. "I mean, Gaia's protecting the thing so that no ground based assault can break it, while Kaze's done nearly the same thing with the air. _I've _made it liquid proof, so that we won't have to get _another _one of these things drawn up. So what about you?"_

"_I guess I'll make it more chaotic. Tailz's Pattern is _way _too uptight about its precious Order, but on the other hand, Tobies's buddy, the Logrus, is far too Chaotic. So if _this _Pattern has some chaos thrown in, it'll be more neutral…"_

--------------------------

I sat up and said, "Pattern plus Logrus equals PROgress. I get it now. Nice joke, Frigi. I guess you knew more than I thought you did at the time." Then I noticed that I had to sit up. I guess these flashbacks overload my human brain so much that I faint every time. Damn.

"Who's 'Frigi?'" asked Crono.

"Frigida, y'know?"

"Oh. What are the Pattern and the Logrus?"

"I'll just have you read the Great Book of Amber when we get back to the End of Time. It's explained in there. Now, shall we find our stuff?"

We descended to the main deck of the Blackbird and began wandering the halls. Every time we encountered an enemy, we beat them up with magic. I actually combined my limited Martial Arts skills, in which I had no actual training, with my magic, punching holes through the robots, and using my fist in place of my sword for Sonic Blade. We found Crono's stuff first, then Glenn's. Next came the gold, then finally _my _stuff. As soon as I had, I began falling.

"Not another flashback…" my words went into a mumble as the memory came through.

--------------------------

"_So Gaia, why do you wear that armour all time?" I asked another of my brothers. I, nor any of my siblings have _ever _seen what Gaia really looks like, since he's always wrapped up in his earth-tone armour. We were walking through his favourite Shadow at the time, through one of the more scenic valleys._

"_You don't want to know," came the reply, through my feet._

"_That's another thing." I stopped walking. "Why do you _always _talk through the ground! When fighting in mid-air you never say a word! Use your real voice, man!"_

_Gaia stopped and turned towards me "That will only happen in the most dire of situations." Gaia sunk into the ground, vanishing from sight. Infuriated, I blew up the trees around me. Which was a pity, for they were such a dazzling red._

--------------------------

I stood up again. "That Gaia," I sighed. "He's always been a such an enigma…"

We continued through the ship, this time knowing where we were going. I knew where the exit to the left wing was, and I picked up our items as we went through the door. As the wind rushed over us, I felt slightly dizzy. I grabbed Crono.

"Another flashback comin' through." I said. And promptly collapsed.

--------------------------

"_Though I doubt we'll really need much in the way of a plan to fight him, we should be prepared," commanded the man across from me. He wore a greenish-yellow general's outfit with a Ulysses S. Grant-style hairdo. He was Kaze, General to the Gods, and God of the Wind. "Six against one may favour us, but only two of us can hurt him." and he launched into complicated battle plans that, if not done properly, he said, could cause any of us to die and be absorbed by Absolute Evil Elemental, my fourth and worst brother._

_About halfway through the plans, Frigida suddenly summoned his halberd, Tsunami, and ran out of the tent, screaming his name: "FRIGIDA ICESTORM!"_

_I smacked my forehead. "Oh, he did not just do that."_

"_He did it." commented someone over my shoulder…_

--------------------------

"Damn that arrogant Frigida," I muttered upon waking. "I may not remember the outcome of that battle, but I get the feeling he got what he deserved."

I looked around. We were back inside the Blackbird, just off the wing. '_They must've brought me back in to keep me from falling off. I wonder what they're doing…'_

"Ah, Joe. Thou art awake," Glenn spoke from behind me. "Crono is currently searching the vessel for rations. We doubted that Dalton wouldst leave his troops with naught to eat."

"And it's not like they'll need 'em. Since they happen to be dead."

"True. Thus was our reasoning."

"I think I found some really good stuff," Crono said as he came back in. He had a bag over his back that smelled of, well, FOOD!

Crono opened the bag and dumped out the contents. There were t least three cans of my favourite food were there in the pile. Most of the food was fruits or vegetables, but there was SPAM™! SPAM™! I was so happy! I didn't think Spam™ existed in this world! I ripped open a can, cooked the meat with my magic, and began chowing down, stopping occasionally to eat a carrot or apple.

After we finished the meal, we headed out for the wing again. Fighting against the wind, we made our way to the far end, and it was quite the hike. I think they must've really screwed up the proportions in the making of the game. Then, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

"There be a presence," Glenn muttered.

"It's Dalton's Golem King. But we won't have too much to worry about: he's afraid of heights," I laughed a little, but cut it short when the Dimensional Rift appeared. As I had said, the Golem King was CRAP! We just talked to him, and he ran, grateful that we let him live.

Suddenly, a silver streak went by out of the corner of my eye. It was Dalton in the Epoch, now that it could fly. I quickly transformed into Barog in a flash of fire (it was becoming easier every time, but no less painful), grabbed Glenn and Crono by the wrists, and ran for the front of the wing. I leapt off, and flew for the Epoch, holding my friends up by sheer determination. I landed on the nose of the Epoch and set the others down. Dalton opened the cockpit to fight us, and I grabbed his wrist. I told Crono of Dalton's modifications and carried Dalton off to the wing of the Blackbird.

When I dropped him off, he said, "So, all the 'Great God of Fire' is gonna do is leave me on my own ship?" He began laughing. "If that's all you're capable of doing, it's no wonder you girlfriend was killed by Lavos!"

I was instantly surrounded by fire. "That's the wrong thing to say, _Dolt_on." I was also instantly angry. I knew it wasn't this guy's fault Lucca died, but he was pissing me off by using her. I flew back and moved my right hand in front of me. "Let's see if you remember _this_. Welcome to Barog Firestorm's BIG BANG ATTACK!" I built up a fireball four times bigger than the one I had used against Sephiroth and shot it at Dalton. He summoned an ice wall and stopped the attack, though I could tell his little shield wouldn't last much longer. "WELCOME TO OBLIVION!" I threw another fireball of the same size at the wall, exploding it and half the wing. I then caught Dalton's heat signature moving across the wing for the entrance. I flew over and grabbed him, flying over to deposit him on the front of the ship.

I flew off a ways and began charging another attack. Though I was now Barog, my spells and other fire controlling abilities still hurt like hell. I chanted the name of my attack, knowing it to be one he's not yet seen. "Ka… me… ha… me…" Dalton threw a humongous icicle my way and I broke myself and my fireball into pure heat energy, flying directly into Dalton's face before re-materializing. "HAAAAA!" My Flaming Warp Kamehameha not only destroyed Dalton sufficiently, but managed to finish destroying the Blackbird entirely.

"Well," I muttered as I headed for the landed Epoch, "I guess I was wrong, Magus: Dalton _does_ die!" I laughed my head off as I descended to the ground, returning to human at the last second. "Well, guys. Let's go recruit us a new team mate."

"Who?" wondered Crono. I led Crono and Glenn to the North Cape, where we found Magus waiting.

"Magus. It's good to see you again," I said. Glenn drew the Masamune.

"Going to kill me now, you stupid frog? Now why would you want to do that, after you saved my life three days ago?" Magus chuckled.

"Joe, what's he talking about?" asked Crono.

"Guys, meet Prince Janus Zeal, also known as: The Prophet." I said. Magus turned to face us.

"However, I do _not_ want to be called by that name ever again. Or at least not until we kill Lavos."

Glenn stood there, glaring at Magus. "If thou art truly out to slay Lavos. I shall spare thee until-"

"Hold on a sec," Magus interrupted. "I want to get rid of that annoying accent my magic gave you." He snapped his fingers and a blue spark raced towards Glenn's throat.

"What was that, you weirdo?" Glenn yelled, then blinked at his own voice. "I sound like me again!"

"But why didn't you change him back to human, too?" I asked.

"When I attacked Lavos, he drained most of my spells and magic power. I don't yet have enough strength to return you to full human form."

"Then when we beat Lavos?" Glenn asked.

"We'll see."

We spoke with Magus some more, then headed back to the Epoch. We piled in, Crono piloting, and we headed for the End of Time.

"_Being powerful is like being a Lady, if you have to tell people you are, you aren't"_

_-Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady._


	16. The Chrono Trigger and the Black Blade

Oh, and sorry I didn't get this up sooner. I was busy with some engraving stuff.

Quick Quote Quorrection: The previous chapter's quote was _not _said by Eleanor Roosevelt, this is my mistake as I was trying to recall the whole thing from memory. The quote was instead said by Margaret Thatcher.

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter 16**

**The Chrono Trigger and the Black Blade.**

By: Shadic the Hedgehog

AS we re-entered the End of Time, Spekkio came running up to us with urgent news. He was different this time: I was already seeing him as a pink Nu. Wow, I was already the equivalent of level …

"Guys! Somethin' black, sharp, and thin just showed up in my room, and I think you guys have something to do with it!" We followed him back to his room and there it was, laying in the middle of the floor: the blade of the Murasamé . "I've already had Ayla and Robo try to peel it off the floor, but it wouldn't budge and I thought maybe one of you… Wait a tic, where's Lucca? And who's the Shadow Mage?"

"Didn't Gaspar tell you?" I asked. "She died, defending us against Lavos. As for him, this is-"

"MAGUS!" cried Marle from behind me. I turned and saw her, crossbow loaded and aimed at Magus' head. "What did you do with Lucca!"

"I did nothing, you silly girl," Magus replied coolly. "The girl's undoing was her own. As they say-"

"Play with fire and you get burned," I finished. "And don't speak so nonchalantly about her again. She saved your life, and your sister's too, y'know. Oh, and right then _you_ were 'playing with fire.' Particularly the flame standing right beside you."

"My apologies, Master Firestorm." Magus sneered as he bowed mockingly. I was about to blast him with a fireball, since I was getting a little pissed.

"Um, guys? There's still a magical blade sitting in the middle of my floor. So if you don't mind, SHUT UP!" That immediately did the trick, as we all stared at the outburst from the Master of War.

"Fine," I muttered. "Let me give it a try, it used to be my father's sword after all." As I headed for it Crono suddenly remembered something.

"That's right! I just remembered you mentioning the disappearance of your sword when we met you!"

"And it seems it had an unusual reaction to the Mammon Machine when it re-appeared, turning into the Murasame." I finished my short walk and reached down for the sword. I tugged and tugged, but it wouldn't budge. Finally, I transformed to Barog, in hopes that his immense strength would let me rip the sword of the ground. But to no avail. The friggin' thing wouldn't budge! I was about to blow the floor around it away when I was suddenly incased in ice. Very PAINFUL ice. I changed back and shattered the ice with a small Flame Shield, drying myself at the same time.

"Pitiful," muttered Magus as Glenn took his turn. I glared and he knew not to say anything more. Glenn was just as successful as I was, even touching the blade with the Masamune didn't help. Magus then shoved Glenn out of the way. "Let me handle this." And the moment he touched the blade something happened.

There was a sort of anti-light shining (or unshining?) from the sword, making things appear as they would in a film negative (freaky experience I don't wish to repeat) and two figures appeared. Exact mirrors of Masa and Mune. Speaking of them, they instantly materialized from Glenn's sheath, the Masamune vanishing temporarily.

"Mura! Samé!" exclaimed Masa and Mune together. "What happened to you guys? You just suddenly up and vanished!" They went to hug their brothers, but jumped back quickly, smoke rising from where they had touched.

"We were sealed within the Mammon Machine," explained one calmly. "The Queen believed that in order to attract Lavos, she needed a source of extreme magical might."

"Dat's right, yo," said the other. "We was sealed 'til that sword stuck inta da machine. Oh, 'n' it seems we been changed, dude."

I stared in disbelief at the "Gangster Finori" until his brother spoke up. "Samé is correct. We have apparently been transformed into exact polar opposites of you and other magical beings." Ah, so the Vulcan was Mura and the gangster was Samé. Good to get _that_ cleared up.

"So, what now?" asked Glenn. It was odd hearing him talk like a normal person. Well, except for the cloak.

"Like our bros that you with, ya gotta beat us up ta get us ta go with ya," Samé explained. "We gotta fight, dudes."

"I see," I replied. "And are there any special rules to this fight?"

"You must fight us using the same number of people, if not the same party, that you fought Masa and Mune with."

"There were four of you, if I remember correctly," said Masa, counting off the number on his four-fingered hands. "Crono, Joe, Marle, and Lu…cca…" He finished stutteringly, as he glanced in my direction.

I patted him on the head, "Don't worry about it. She'll come back soon enough. We just have to get the Chrono Trigger from Gaspar and a clone from Nornstein Bekkler."

"Oh." He looked puzzled. He and Mune turned back into a sword and re-sheathed themselves. We prepared. Crono sent Glenn out to bring Robo in, letting Marle stay for the fight. We were still one over, and so Magus, Crono, and I engaged in a game of Janken. We went for it ten times before Magus finally won with a scissors, pitting me and Crono against each other. I won in three tries, using paper over Crono's rock.

Crono walked dejectedly over to Spekkio, who wouldn't allow himself to interfere with this fight, and crossed his arms to watch. It was actually kinda funny to see him grumpy, this being the first bit of adventure he didn't participate in since our first trip to 65 mil. BC.

Mura and Samé led off the attack with an Antipode spell on me. I shuddered as I froze, getting hurt a little by the ice, only to be healed when the fire freed me! Apparently Barog's fire immunity/healing crossed over to me completely after my transformation. I blasted Samé with a Point Flare, but it didn't seem to do anything. Magus was using a Dark Bomb on Mura, but also to no avail. Robo used his Uzzi Punch (Which I didn't even know he knew) on Samé, bloodying up his face to a pulp.

I added on to Robo's attack with a Kamehameha Blast, but when the smoke cleared, Samé was good as new! Magus and Marle were having just as much trouble with Mura: after Marle shot him full of bolts, Magus would use Dark Bomb and the bolts would fall out of him without leaving scars!

"I have a hypothesis," said Robo. "It appears that Mura and Samé are healed by any form of magic. Let us concentrate on physical damage instead."

"Right." We all nodded and Magus pulled out his scythe.

"I'm not very good at martial combat," Magus muttered.

"What's this?" I mocked. "Humility? Well, now's your chance to get better!" I charged forward with the Crystal Blade, going right into a Sonic Blade attack, which I combined with Robo's Uzzi Punch so that after I made one pass, he would grab me and pull me back. I called it, afterwards, the Boomerang Blade.

Magus was dancing around Mura, slicing him aplenty, while Marle aimed around him, putting more bolts in Mura. Eventually, Mura and Samé jumped back.

"Yo' good! But now we get serious, dudes!" You can guess who that was.

Magus raised an eyebrow, "_Now_ you're getting serious?"

"That is what my brother said," replied Mura.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Watch." Mura and Samé jumped to opposite sides of the room an did their own Finori Fusion, only instead of a dark hole appearing where they were to show, it was a bright light that faded away to reveal MuraSame.

Marle healed us at the start of the battle, I moved over to Robo and Magus and explained a triple tech we could do naught but physical damage. Magus didn't like the idea, but went along with it so that we could get this over with. Robo grabbed Magus and I by the arm and we ran to either side of the spotlight in the center of the room. Marle, who had overheard us, jumped onto Robo's head to stay out of the way and distracted MuraSamé for us with her X-bow.

Magus and I nodded to each other, then to Robo, who began a Laser Spin, arms still out, I held out my sword as Magus held his scythe. And we began flying about the room. I changed into Barog partway to get some aerodynamics from my wings, while Magus had his cloak (I didn't hurt that he could hover, too). Robo's Lasers, being non-magical damage, sliced right after our blades went by, cauterising the wound after we made it. We finished and MuraSame began teetering, but quickly recovered.

Marle had been stationary on Robo's head, and worked on sniping MuraSame in the head. There was a quiet twang and the bolt appeared right between his eyes. He went cross-eyed and fell backwards, fading into sparkles as he went. The sparkles gathered together in two different spots and coalesced back into Mura and Samé.

"You dudes ROCK!" exclaimed Samé. "Not even those soldier peeps in Zeal coulda done dat!"

"I concur. You deserve to hold the Black Blade of the anti-magic sword," Mura bowed and he and Samé vanished back into the blade.

"Now we just need to find the hilt," I muttered. Then brightened as Magus handed me the blade and a weird-looking pin.

"The pin is known as the Shadow Badge, and was next to the Murasame when I found it. It seemed to have the same effect on this sword as the Hero's Badge does on the Masamune."

"Thanks. Now, let's go talk to Gaspar about getting Lucca back!" We all marched out of the room and surrounded Gaspar, I was putting the blade into the Bag of Holding and changing back from Barog as I walked. I put the Shadow Badge on and approached Gaspar.

"It seems you've been through quite a lot," Gaspar muttered. "And yes, I have a Time Egg right here." He held out his hand and I held mine out as well, but he didn't put the Chrono Trigger into my hand!

"What's the deal? Give it here so we can revive Lucca!" I was starting to get mad, and flames began whirling around my arms.

"Before I do that, let me ask you this: Why are you going to revive her? What does she mean to you?"

"I… I'm not sure…" I muttered. The flames died down around my arms and I looked into his eyes.

"I see. Just by looking into your eyes, I can tell." He grinned and reached out for my hand, then placed the Time Egg in my palm. "Go. And don't forget your feelings. Don't give up what you hold dear."

We walked over to the pillar for Leene's Square and activated it. Next stop: Nornstein Bekkler.

"_He who does not live in some degree for others, hardly lives for himself,"_

_-Michel de Montaigne_


	17. The Hilt of Darkness and Lucca's Return

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter 17**

**The Hilt of Darkness and Lucca's Return.**

By: Shadic the Hedgehog

"Okay, fine. We'll play your stupid game," Magus conceded. He had been arguing with the past half-hour with the disembodied head and hands of Nornstein Bekkler. He had finally given up when we told him someone else would be actually playing it. Crono stepped up and while he did pretty good, we still ended up paying Bekkler a thousand gold for the clone. I grabbed Crono, who was about ready to punch the guy (that was half our gold, gone) and headed for the Gate, Magus and Robo close behind. After reaching the End of Time Robo stayed behind while Marle decided to join us (Lucca _was_ her first friend outside the castle, besides Crono, of course). Magus decided to take a look at the Great Book of Amber, since Robo had told him a lot about it and he was intrigued with how parts of it sounded similar to the things he learned in the library of his castle, so Glenn came instead.

We jumped into the Epoch, Crono still piloting, and took off for "The Future." We landed near Keeper's Dome and Glenn was about to head inside, to talk to Robo-Belthasar. I told him that wouldn't be necessary, I could tell them everything they needed to know about getting up Death Mountain.

As we reached the base of the mountain a powerful gust of wind hit us, throwing us to the ground. I climbed to my feet when the winds died down and dashed over to the cliff face, turning into Barog to dig my claws into the rock and hold myself steady. Crono and Glenn followed suit with their swords pulling some spare ones out to have one sword in at each step. Marle hung onto Crono to carry her up the mountain. We scaled the first obstacle in a way the game would never allow us to.

After getting past the extreme wind, I shifted back and we continued our trek. We were inside one of the caves when we encountered our first Lavos Spawn. I warned the team against attacking the shell or using any area attacks, because the counter-attack would _hurt_. We finished the battle when I shoved my sword through its eye and charged flames into its insides, effectively blowing it up. Continuing our travels, we came across the slippery path. Glenn cast Wind and carried us across so the we wouldn't fall to our doom below. We encountered another Lavos Spawn on the other side and summarily defeated it, Crono's finishing spell shattering the shell to miniscule pieces. We got lost a couple times as I tried getting us to the last obstacle and Lavos Spawn.

When we finally reached the Spawn I cautioned every to be even more careful. We needed the shell to be mostly intact to reach the summit and get Lucca back. That decided, entered the battle without using any spells. We were having a harder time with it than usual. The Spawn was firing some sort of quills at us that slowed our movement through pain and then s/he would shoot us with lasers like a miniature "Destruction Rains from the Heavens." Without our spells the Spawn seemed to be getting the better of us and if it wasn't for Marle and Glenn using healing magic we would have already lost. Then I remembered something that made me smack my forehead: Glenn could just carry us up the little cliff with his magic.

I pointed at the eye of the Lavos Spawn and fired a stream of white-hot flames into it, too hot for the eyelid to stop for long. As cracks began appearing across the shell I stopped, as I was getting tired and my skin was turning black from being charred by my spells. I fell to the ground, taking an abnormal liking to the coldness of the snow on my burnt skin. Marle used a Megalixir we had found in one of the chests on the way up here and we waited for the shell to cool off before pushing it to the incomplete climbing rocks on the wall. Glenn, Crono, and I approached the shell and just as we put our hands on it to move it, it crumbled into little bits. The others glared at me 'til I mentioned my backup plan. Glenn smacked his own forehead (which was pretty wide thanks to him being a frog still) and lifted us to the summit. I took the Time Egg out from my coat pocket and held it up to the moon. It rose up and I closed my eyes.

_'Please… Let Lucca come back with us unharmed,'_ I prayed. The Chrono Trigger shattered above my head and I opened my eyes to stare at the moon as it eclipsed with a red shadow. I felt like I was back on the Telepod what seemed like ages ago, and I was suddenly standing in a frozen frame of time.

It looked as it did when I was standing up, arm outstretched towards Lucca, whose flames were feeding Lavos' Eye. Magus was collapsed near his sister and Queen Zeal stood haughtily above it all, laughing her head off. My thought at the moment was for a black marker to mar Queen Zeal's face with. But then my thoughts returned to Lucca. Crono pulled the Lucca Clone from our Bag of Holding and got ready to put it where Lucca stood. I pulled Lucca from where she stood, the black-and-white tone everything had fading from her as she collapsed in my arms. The instant Crono put the clone in the right spot and position, I expected us to return to Death Mountain's Summit immediately, but it wasn't happening. Then I noticed a spot of brown in all the black: the hilt of the Murasame. Glenn saw what I was looking at and picked it up for me, then we appeared on Death Mountain. I laid Lucca by the small tree on the summit and sat down beside her, waiting for her to wake up.

"Wha-what… happened to me?" she mumbled as her eyes opened slightly.

"We just saved your life," I replied. "It's been three days since you tried sacrificing yourself for us. Never do anything that reckless again."

"Gotcha… I just feel… a little sleepy…" she closed her eyes again and relaxed. Her breath became soft and even and I smiled at everyone else.

"Let's get back to base, guys. Lucca's gonna need some time to recover." Glenn nodded and flew us down to the Epoch which we took back to the End of Time.

"Fate makes Fools of us all,"

-Cain, author of Chrono Continuum icybrian dot com. Thank him for the Beginning of Time thing I've only referenced so far.

A/N: Sorry the chapter's so short, but I've had a bit of writer's block recently. I'm sure the next chapter will be longer!


	18. Corwin of Amber and the Beginning

Shadic: Hey everybody, this chapter was actually fairly impromptu. It'll take me a while to update the next chapter, as I'm trying to figure out what order in which to do the side quests. trying to make it logical. Well, enjoy what I've got!

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter 18**

**  
Corwin of Amber and the Beginning**

By: Shadic the Hedgehog

**Disclaimer:** Haven't done this in a while, but CT isn't mine, nor are the characters of the Amber Chronicles or the Slayers anime series. However, the Invincibles and their separate forms do belong to myself, Lord Tobies (screen name), and, not-related-by-blood-but-still-my-little-brother, Frank Look.

As we reached the End of Time, I laid Lucca down next to the wall and sat down beside her sleeping form. Next thing I knew, Magus' shadow was above me. "What is it, Magus?" 

"I have something to speak with you about, as well as a small trip to my castle library for a book I'm quite sure you'll find intriguing." I noticed that in his right hand he held my copy of The Great Book of Amber. "So, will you come with? It will only be us on this trip, so that the others won't be overly alarmed until we're sure of the answer."

"What answer?" 

"Whether Corwin of Amber in this book," he waved the book, "is the same person as the one who drew the Progress of this world."

Glenn approached from the side, "I had my suspicions about the stuff you know since you mentioned the Progress on the Black Bird."

"You slimy toad, what are you doing here?"

"Frogs have better sense of hearing than most humans. I could hear you from across the room."

Robo appeared as well, "The same holds true for robots, such as myself. There is little you can hide from us."

Glenn glared at Magus. "You're taking me and Robo with you. First off to make sure that you don't attack Joe, secondly to find out the answer as well."

I laughed a little, "Come on, guys. We all know Magus can't really destroy Barog Firestorm. Plus, I don't want this conversation to get so loud…" I glanced at Lucca.

Finally, we all agreed to go together to Magus' Castle (I wasn't even sure it was still standing, mind you), telling Crono that we were going on a minor side-quest that shouldn't take too long. We opted to take the Epoch because then we could land right on the castle grounds. Magus lead us all inside, grabbing a torch so I wouldn't use up any magic unnecessarily. He wasn't sure if any Mystics were left, and if they were, he wasn't sure if we would have to fight them.

We made it to the library without much trouble, and Magus lead us over to the book he was talking about. "This is a history book I had with me when I was brought to this time period. Thusly it contains knowledge that other history books wouldn't. Here, look at page one hundred fifty one along with this section of your Great Book of Amber."

"They both detail the drawing of a pattern using a gem called the Jewel of Judgement!" I exclaimed. "Only real difference is that the history book calls the "New Pattern" the Progress, which is in line with my own awakened memories. That means…" 

"Perhaps your world has more anchor in all the realities than any other, because you say it had details of this world in a game, and it had this book." Magus tapped The Great Book of Amber, "Those two things are amongst how many other types of 'fictional' stories on your world?"

"I've never counted them… But perhaps you're right. It says in The Great Book of Amber that the Shadows where the families of Amber and Chaos reside become more real. Perhaps the fact that I was living there had caused it to become one of the more real Shadows. But that doesn't explain how it would have been in contact with other Shadows."

Robo's eyes blinked as he reached a conclusion, "Perhaps there was another? Or a descendant of Chaos or Amber?" 

"Could be…" Magus nodded. "Now, why don't we deal with the raving masses at the door?"

"Right." There had been sounds coming from the other side of the Library door, a the sounds of massing Mystics, actually. Perhaps they were being driven mad by the overflow of Lavos' power when he opened the Time Gate in the basement. Whatever happened, they were blocking our way out.

"It was a good thing we insisted on coming along, then, huh?" Glenn croak-chuckled.

The door burst open and I quickly transformed into Barog. I put a shroud of fire on my Crystal Sword and charged, but was surprised at the creature I saw: it was one of those large, yellow, winged beast that you fight in the Black Omen… Hold up - I slashed the creature in two - there was a problem here! The Black Omen didn't rise as we took off in the Epoch back when we recruited Magus, but it must be here now, otherwise the creatures wouldn't be here! We fought our way out of the castle, myself at the point to at least weaken the monsters as we escaped.

We piled into the Epoch as fast as we could and I hastily turned the Time Dial to the End of Time. I pushed "y" and we took off, the sides of the ship being bombarded by the Black Omen's laser systems. Just before we broke the Time Barrier, we were hit just right to send us bouncing around, Robo's shoulder hitting the front dash. The time travel engine cut in and we were gone, but there was a problem: the ship was shaking progressively worse.

"What the hell is going on?!" bellowed Magus.

"How the hell should I know?!" I yelled back. "This didn't happen in the game. Travelling to your castle wasn't even possible after the fight!"

Suddenly, the Epoch began to drift off course, the shaking so bad it was as if we were under fire again. The port wing began to dip and it touched the edge of the Time Stream Tunnel, a wake appearing behind it in the fiery edges of the tunnel. The turbulence became worse, until finally we were ripped away and spun out of control, throwing us all over the ship itself.

I woke up and immediately closed my eyes again. I hadn't felt that blinded by light since the we drank Dizzy Juice way back when. Geez, that feels like ages ago… I groped to my forehead to get my shades to find them missing. There was a booted foot sitting two inches away from my skull, though. I tapped harshly on the person's leg (it wasn't Robo, thankfully) to wake him up.

"Nnngh, wha-what happened…?" I recognized Glenn's baritone croak. "Gah! My eyes!"

"Sorry I didn't warn you about that. I'm not sure what's going on, but it's either really bright out there, or we're both drunk."

"You are not drunk," beeped Robo. "It really is that bright out there."

"Hey, Robo, can you find my shades? They're missing from my forehead."

"They're on my face," Magus muttered. "And they're not helping as much as you would want them to."

"Damn. Well, I guess we'll just have to get used to it, then."

"Actually, why don't I just dim the lights a little for you," this was a voice I didn't recognize. I could tell, even with my eyes shut, that the brightness surrounding us had faded a little at least. "It should now be safe for you to open your eyes without fear of permanent blindness."

"Thanks." I opened my eyes slowly and with much blinking. The light was still powerful enough to make me want my sunglasses, like a day without clouds. My shades were thrust into my hands, and I looked over at Magus as I put them on. He had his own pair of sunglasses on, only they had purple rims as opposed to the red ones I wore. He produced a third pair with a smirk, these with green rims and shaped kind of oddly. He tossed them to Glenn who stuck them on, grinning from eye-to-eye. Robo lowered his own sort of refractive lenses over his eyes when he saw us. We all climbed out and glanced around where we had crash landed.

It was a platform, much like that at the End of Time, though it was much more open than that platform. The light, as noted before, was also different, being completely opposed from the dim gloom of the End of Time. There was no Lamp Post in the centre of the platform, that was one bit of difference, another was that of other doors there was but one. I found the man who had been speaking standing just to the left of me, so I asked him who he was.

"So, who are you, and when the hell are we?" I demanded, grabbing him by the shirt collar. Of course, I'm not sure what it was he was wearing on his upper torso, but shirt will do for now.

"My name is of no importance, and I welcome you all to the Beginning of Time," the man smirked. Magus whipped his scythe out across the man's throat.

"I don't care how unimportant your name is. You will tell it to us. NOW."

"Very well, Prince Janus 'Magus' Zeal, you may call me Xelloss." I dropped him and he brushed off his purple robes. "I know all of you. Barog Firestorm, Glenn 'Frog' MacDougal, R66-Y 'Robo' Prometheus, and Prince Janus 'Magus' Zeal."

"Just how do you know of this? And what is this Prometheus designation you have assigned me?"

"Oh, sorry, you haven't done that yet, hmm? Then I guess that's a secret." Xelloss raised a pointer finger to his lips and smiled secretively.

"So, why are we here and not at the End of Time?" asked Glenn, hand on sword.

"You were closer to this end than that."

"And how did you get here?"

"That's a secret." he put his finger to lips again.

Magus put his scythe up again and Xelloss suddenly appeared behind him, a staff with a gem at the top next to his neck, glowing with power. Magus growled under his breath and shrank his scythe back into a simple two-foot cylinder. We followed Xelloss into the other room, he promised that he would have the Epoch repaired while we were talking in the back.

The room was filled with weapons. "Whoa. This place is loaded."

"Yes, isn't it. I know Mr. Spekkio gave you access to the magic in your blood, but there is a bit more power that can be given here, at the Beginning. These are facsimiles of your greatest weapons. You might find others that are better later, but they shall serve you for a time." He moved over to the rows of weapons and started plucking down assorted types. I noticed a couple of them that were fairly odd: One that was just a hilt, as if the blade had been simply… pulled out. The other oddity was a small cylinder just slightly shorter than Magus' scythe became. I knew it wasn't another scythe for Magus because Xelloss had pulled out a full-length scythe as well.

He laid the weapons out on a table in the centre of the room. "There is a weapon for everyone in your party, except Glenn 'Frog' MacDougal." He pointed at the Masamune. "Because the Beginning of Time shall not appear on your Time Dial, no matter how far back you turn it, we have weapons for those at the End of Time. From right to left, the weapons are for Crono Trigaru, Nadia 'Marle' Guardia, Lucca Ashtear, Barog Firestorm, R66-Y 'Robo' Prometheus, Ayla Ioka, and Prince Janus 'Magus' Zeal." The weapons were the cylinder, a strange crossbow that seemed to send a song to my mind, a glowing pistol, the bladeless sword, a pair of black robotic arms, a pair of metal-lined gloves, and a scythe with a skull on the top.

Magus looked at Xelloss, "Why are you doing this? Why give us these weapons?"

Xelloss put his finger to his lips and said, just as coyly as before, "That's a secret!"

Robo beeped and turned to me, "None of the weapons appear to be dangerous. May I put on the new arms now?"

"Of course. We have these new weapons, why not use them?" I reached for the bladeless sword and suddenly heard a roar from off to my right. I looked and there was a dragon, shaped like a large dog, slung low to the ground, running into the room. It started growling and roaring, and I could understand it as if it spoke actual words.

_"Lord Firestorm! Away! Those weapons are cursed! This one seeks to trick you!"_ Xelloss opened his eyes and glared at the dragon.

"Wretched animal!" His voice had lost all its playfulness, and had turned so poisonous, I thought I should use Purify right then. "If I was at full power, I'd kill you right now. Be grateful I'm not! Unholy Water, get them out of here." and he vanished in a sphere of Dark Flames, as a formless creature of water and ice formed and charged at us. 

"What was that about?" asked Glenn, as we ran out, to get away from the thing.

"I don't know. But the dragon recognized me. Called me Barog…" I answered, then looked around. "Where are Robo and Magus?"

The dragon flew out the door behind us and rolled across the ground. He stood up and limped over, whining. _"Lord… Firestorm… Your friends… they took the weapons…"_ The dragon coughed up blood that splattered across the floor.

"How were the weapons cursed?" I said, kneeling down. 

_"The weapons control the holder. Make them fight their friends. Dark Flame had me trapped, but I managed to get out before he did too much harm. He intended to destroy you before you fully awakened."_

Glenn tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at the door. Magus and Robo stood together, eyes glowing a bright red, visible behind even Magus' shades. 

"Crap. Glenn, they aren't themselves right now. We have to get rid of those weapons."

"What?"

"The weapons were cursed by 'Xelloss.' Actually, I don't think that's his name at all. I think that was my worst half."

"You'll have to explain it all later. Right now, we have friends to disarm." I drew the Crystal Sword as Glenn pulled out the Masamune. "I've got Magus." Glenn grinned maliciously.

"Fine, I'll fight Robo. We've got the greatest wizard in history, and the most powerful robot in the future, this will be tough. We don't want to kill them, but I have the feeling they want to kill us."

Magus charged, swinging the scythe at me. I blocked the blade in time for Robo's now black fist to knock me away. Glenn jumped up to swing at Magus' hands, as I stood up and spit a bit of blood out. Thankfully my teeth were still intact. I flew towards Robo and sliced at his arm, hoping it would come off, but he slid out of the way, faster than he should have been able to move.

"Joe! Magus is doing stuff he shouldn't be able to do since Lavos drained his powers!"

"Yeah, Robo jut moved faster than he should be able. I think the weapons increase their power. Too bad they had to be cursed." I dodged an Uzzi Punch from Robo and struck back, trying to at least cut the chain holding his hand, but he pulled it back too fast. Suddenly, there was a blast of fire over my shoulder, and it pushed Robo back. I glanced at the source to see the dragon, standing shakily on three legs. "Thanks." I turned back and used Cross-slash to try and paralyze him.

Glenn told me later that, even though he was glad to fight Magus, he wasn't doing very well himself. He was pulling out every trick in his repertoire to try and disarm him. Not even Wind 2 could pull the scythe away. Meanwhile, I now had a partner fighting alongside me in the form of the dragon.

Robo turned to face the dragon, and opened his body, revealing his lasers. There was a whine as the lasers charged up. I dashed to cut off his arms, and was suddenly shoved out of the way by the dragon as the laser fired. I watched the dragon's body fry and fall to the ground. If Robo was himself, he'd suggest dismantling himself for such a senseless killing. Myself, I was mad at the fact that such a friend as the dragon was killed. I decided to try a technique from Final Fantasy VII, the summoning of Pheonix.

I charged the flames around me with as much energy as I possibly could, concentrating on the image of the Pheonix. "Pheonix Flare!" I yelled, hoping that the idea worked. I felt a warmth, not the burning of the flames I was using, but a comforting warmth rise through me and spread throughout the room. As I had hoped, the visage of a flaming bird rose before me and sang a soft note that soothed my few wounds.

As the flames spread from the Pheonix, the cursed weapons began to crack and fall apart and the red light faded from Magus' and Robo's eyes. Magus grabbed his head while Robo fell to his knees. I looked over to the fallen dragon to see that his body was burning. The Pheonix whispered a hello and good bye to me, with Barog's name, and folded in on itself. I walked over to the ashes of the dragon and kneeled. I saw an egg inside the ashes and smiled. He would be fine, with time.

I glanced over at Glenn, who was looking slightly miffed. "Well, guys. Pick up your old weapons and we'll go."

Robo blinked. "I'm afraid that I'm armless and can't pick anything up."

I laughed as Magus went into the back room and came out with Robo's arms and his folded scythe. "We'll get Lucca to re-attach them, don't worry. Now, let's hope Dark Flame did get the Epoch fixed, or we're tuck at the Beginning of Time."

We walked over to the Epoch, and saw it was sitting on the lowered landing struts and completely fixed. There was a tall blonde guy standing there, wiping his brow, standing beside a girl with steel-grey hair and a wrench.

"There, we got it done," said the guy.

"Yeah, but why'd you make me help you?" muttered the girl.

"Because I'm, uh, what's that word…"

"Incompetent?"

"Yeah! That's it! Dark Flame said that he would have the ship fixed and you wouldn't do it on your own, so I had to get you to do it!"

"Oh, Creation, why'd he have to give you his conscience?" The girl put her hand on her forehead.

"Umm, who are you guys?" Glenn blinked.

The girl whipped around. Her skin was covered in stone, as grey as her hair. The guy turned slower and looked at us with a blank stare.

The guy looked us over and said, to the girl, "What did Dark Flame say for us to be call ourselves?"

The girl smacked him upside the head with the wrench before replying. "I'm Zelgadis, that idiot is Gourry."

I looked closer at them and came upon a realization. "You're the Spoiled Earth and the Cursed Wind, aren't you?"

"Shit! He figured us out. Wind, get out of here!"

"Why?"

"Just do it, dammit!" The Spoiled Earth sank into the floor, leaving the wrench, and the Cursed Wind waved dopily before vanishing into the air. A stone hand reached back up and grabbed the wrench, pulling it into the ground.

Robo checked over the Epoch to make sure that it wasn't overly tampered with, finding it completely fixed and ready to go. So we piled in and travelled to the End of Time.

Along the way, I explained everything to Glenn about the Dark Elementals: "The Dark Elementals are the opposites of myself, Frigida, Gaia, and Kaze. Usually they're combined into Absolute Evil Elemental, so that they can cancel out the problems caused by our recombining. You see, a long, long time ago, there was a war amongst the stars, between Creation and his brother Tailies. Somewhere along the line, they were forcibly split into Earth, Flame, Wind, Water, Tobies, and Tailz. After that, the four elements wandered away to make things, while Tailz and Tobies, the Power and Reason of Tailies, began fighting.

"After a while, Tailz realized he couldn't win on his own and decided to ask, well, us to help him. However, Tailz wouldn't allow anyone he was working with to have a chance to join his brother, so he asked us to split off our evil. The reason we're full-fledged gods, instead of half of each other, is because of our spiritual war-wounds, which healed when we split. Anyways, that's when the Evil and Holy Elementals were formed. They were the Light and Dark Flame, the Holy and Unholy Water, the Blessed and Cursed Wind, and the Pure and Spoiled Earth.

"The Evil Elementals joined Tobies as quickly as we had pledged allegiance to Tailz, and so began another leg of our long war. After who knows how long, the Pure Earth finally lost his patience and decided to get something from our evil selves. He absorbed the power to kill, but now that we were whole creatures, and people cannot be more than a hundred percent of themselves, something had to be taken from the Pure Earth, and he lost his courage. Next, I stole the Dark Flame's destructive capabilities, and he took my emotional control, hence my emotional problems. Holy Water got the worst deal, because, while he managed to get amazing cunning, he became so frickin' arrogant that he proclaimed himself the best at everything. Finally, Blessed Wind had a good idea, and forcibly gave Cursed Wind his conscience for Cursed Wind's intelligence, hence 'Gourry's' stupidity back there."

When we arrived at the End of Time and disembarked, Lucca was awake and talking to Crono. Then she looked over and saw us. "I'm not awake for more than an hour, and you've already got work for me! As she got to work on Robo's arms, she said that Crono told her the whole story of our adventures after she died and before we resurrected her. I filled in some of the blanks and when she was done, Gaspar gathered us around for a quick meeting.  
_  
"In the immortal words of the DnD players manual version 3.5, page 88, column 2, paragraph 8, line 6, word 3: 'the'"  
-Firbealvn, the Academy of Magic Forums. (A/N: I've checked this out. It's true!)_


	19. To Fix My Sword

A/N: Sorry this took so long, I recently got a job, and had writer's block to boot.

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter 19**

**To Fix My Sword**

By: Shadic the Hedgehog

Once we all gathered around Gaspar, he began his speech. "By now, you realize that you are the only ones who can defeat Lavos. However, you are still not yet strong enough to defeat him. There are people and places that you can help out that will make you stronger. First, in the year 600, is a woman trying to bring a forest to life through sheer determination, there is also a shell of every hue. In the year 1000, the ghost of a knight seeks respite. In 2300, is a stone whose light shines for generations, and there is turmoil in the place where robots like Robo are created. Finally, by taking out the Black Omen you will weaken Lavos himself."

I turned to everyone and said, "I say we first train to fight the Demon Elementals, now that they've reared their ugly heads. Then we'll need to work on the Epoch's lasers to take out the Black Omen's lasers before they cause any more problems. I'd also like to get the Murasame fixed."

"How are we supposed to train to fight them?" asked Crono. "If each one is just as strong as Barog..."

"Actually, I'm not sure that they are," Glenn commented. "Just before Dark Flame warped away, he commented about not being at full power."

"He couldn't even kill the Blood Dragon that Robo incinerated three minutes later," Magus said off-hand. Robo flinched, while Glenn glared at Magus.

"Anyways..." Lucca practically hissed. "How are we going to fight them?"

"Well, it doesn't matter how strong their attacks are if they can't touch us. So, we're going to train on re-directing their attacks, or, like if Dark Flame were to attack Marle, who doesn't have control over fire, creating walls to keep the attack away."

The next several pseudo-days were spent entirely in training for most of us. Robo, Lucca, and I were also doing our best to re-wire the Epoch's lasers, so that the front passenger could aim and fire on their own, with great precision. Finally, everyone managed to block Spekkio's spells except for the strongest, like Luminaire, Dark Matter, Flare, and Halation. And damn, Halation sucked. It caused all of us to have absolutely no strength left to move. As it turns out, one aspect of the Lightning element was Light, allowing Crono do bend Robo's lasers, even though they did Shadow damage. That was one surprise for all of us.

A couple hours later, Robo and I finally got the lasers movable, and Lucca sent off a couple of practice shots, to make sure that it worked and was more-or-less moveable. In case you're wondering how I was able to help out so much, all I really did was turn into Barog and use my wings to work underneath the Epoch. I even managed to learn more about technology.

We rested one more day, then I gathered Marle, Ayla, and Glenn to go with me back to AD 1000, because our elements matched the four basic elements, and we were the best at turning attacks (except for Magus, of course, but he already had practice).

Marle manned the lasers, since she was the greatest marksman in the group. As soon as we made it out of the time tunnel I veered left, narrowly dodging the first laser burst from the Black Omen. I swung low to the ground, allowing Ayla to grab some boulders with her magic. Marle took out three of the lasers with a single shot, and when the next volley was fired from the Omen, Ayla stopped them with the boulders she grabbed.

Eventually, we got all of the lasers, great columns of smoke rising from the fortress' sides. I slowed down and dropped in front of Melchior's house. The instant we got out, we drew our weapons and kept an eye out for any monsters from the Omen or the Demon Elementals. We made it to the door of Melchior's house. There was a piece of paper nailed to the door. I ripped it off, and growled as I read it.

"The occupant of this house has been placed under arrest on the following charges: one: Being a weapons smith without a permit; two: selling said weapons without a merchant's licence; and three: Repeated offences of... being human?! And it's signed 'Ozzie the XIII, Lord of Medina.'" I ripped up the letter and burned the scraps. "That's as far as I need to read. We're going to destroy Ozzie the First! Let's go back to the Epoch. We're headed for AD 600."

We quickly shot through the time barrier, and Marle once again got ready to fire the lasers. When we emerged on the other side, though, what we saw shocked us all. The damage we were about to do to the Omen was already there. Smoke pouring out of wounds we weren't going make for another four-hundred years!

"What the-?" said Marle. "How is this possible?"

"Maybe Black Omen so scared of us, it hurt self before we do!" Ayla offered.

"No, I don't think so," I replied.

"That still doesn't explain why the damage we did in the future is present here," Glenn pointed at the door. "That scar was caused by our laser. None of its own could turn back that far."

"The Black Omen is like a stone in the stream of time. It isn't affected by time forward or backward. If, later, I were to stop by the Omen in 2300 and write 'Lavos is a pile of space shite,' it would show up all the way back in 12,000 BC."

"So, why can't we see the Omen at the End of Time?" asked Marle.

"Or at the Beginning of Time," added Glenn.

"It's not at the End because time will never catch up with its End, and the Omen is still limited by time, just not affected by it," I answered. "It's not at the Beginning because it didn't exist then. It has a finite beginning of its own."

I finally got to Ozzie's Fort after wandering about for a while from Magus' Castle. Landing, we got out and stared down the building. "Hey, Marle, or Glenn, I want one of you guys to go get Magus, and maybe Crono. Ozzie uses Lightning magic, so it might be good practice for him."

Marle opted to go, and I was glad to see that someone other than myself was able to fly the time machine, as I was beginning to wonder. Barely two minutes later, the Epoch had landed again. Marle had brought both Crono and Magus, and for some reason, Lucca was there, too!

"Lucca? Why'd you come along?"

"Oh, come on, Joe. I've been dead for a while, and wanted to get out of the End of Time, continue the adventure. Besides, I'll be needing some practice, too!" Lucca chirped.

"Fine, fine. Let's go."

"Not yet," Magus commanded. "Why'd you drag me along?"

"This is Ozzie's Fort. After we took him down in your castle, he ran away to here. I was thinking you might like to see him. Also, your best equipment is in there."

"Hmph. Fine, let's go." Magus strode forward with an arrogant stride. I sighed and walked in after him.

As soon as we entered, Ozzie said, "Come on in! This is the Great Ozzie's Place! ...What in the-?!" He jumped back a little and looked mortified. "M-Magus?!"

"Hn. You seem to be doing well, Ozzie," Magus had the biggest smirk you could get without it being a smile.

"T-the nerve. Deserting your fellow Mystics to work with these humans. You are a traitor! You're no king..."

He floated off the ground then drifted away. We glanced around at each other and followed him in. The first wide-open room, in which I thought we fought Flea, but I wasn't sure. Ozzie stood by the exit, between two candelabras.

"You're following me, huh? Well, then. Allow me to show you a gift from the Black Omen! Tubster, rise!"

A bright yellow light appeared from the floor, coalescing into a yellow version of the Heckran. Ozzie once again floated off.

"Alright, Joe. Any special strategies against this guy?" asked Lucca.

"Not really. He counter-attacks at everything, and since he's a Black Omen monster, he's going to be strong. Use your strongest attacks!"

Magus grinned and muttered, "Gladly..."

He made some mystical gestures and pointed at the Tubster. A black dome erupted from the monster's feet and then faded away, leaving some black stuff on it. Tubster retaliated, simply swinging its claw and cuffing Magus from across the room. That got the rest of us going. I threw a simple Point Flare, Glenn threw his sword so that it was spinning through the air, using the wind to guide it back after it chopped through Tubster (he calls the attack "Boomer Blade"), Ayla charged forward, jumping on its head and gnawing it with Cat Attack, Lucca and Marle threw an Antipode 2 at it, and Crono used Supreme Cannon.

After all the attacks finished up, there were some minor scratches, and some holes that were already scabbing over. I ran forward for a Sonic Blade, while at the same time, Crono and Glenn used a X-Strike, causing us to hit him in formation. Magus followed up with a Dark Bomb and the energy filled in the holes and new scratches, sealing them up. Lucca threw a fireball, not noticing the healing, and burned its shoulder, causing it to counter-attack.

I noticed both of these and yelled to Magus not to use anymore of his Shadow-type spells, since they apparently heal it. However, his other element spells could be used with us. Glenn built up a whirlwind that Crono and Magus tossed Lightning 2 spells into. After that, Lucca, Magus, and I used streams of fire from three sides that almost managed to destroy it. To finish it off, Marle formed a giant icicle with Ice 2 that Ayla grabbed and spiked into its chest. The thing roared, and disintegrated like a normal enemy.

As soon as it was gone, Magus headed through the door, forcing the rest of us to play catch-up. In the next room, Ozzie stood on a balcony, while beside us, two conveyor belts were moving along.

"Howdy," Ozzie greeted us. "You are quite strong, I'll admit. But anyone trying to take MY treasure shall be harshly dealt with!" He turned and started cranking, two Blue Ogres emerging from the holes next to the conveyor belts. Everyone went for their weapons until I held up my hand.

"Don't bother. Ozzie's not very good at making traps on his own."

"Got that right," scoffed Magus.

Sure enough, once the Blue Ogres hit that conveyor belt they were carried on over to the hole on the other side and dropped through. "Oz-Ozzie's in a pickle!" He shouted, before turning around and running.

We entered the next big room, and approached Ozzie, who was once again standing between the candelabra. This time he was _really _grinning.

"The Tubster wasn't our only gift from the Black Omen. I'd like you all to meet Slea!"

Everyone looked at me and I shrugged. This was new. There was a spinning thing forming in between us and Ozzie. When it finally appeared, We gasped (except for Ayla, 'cause she didn't know who it was to begin with, and Magus, because he was just too cool). Slea was Flea and Slash joined at the shoulder!

"When you brats sliced off Flea's arm and broke Slash's, the Black Omen combined them into one being, with both of their powers!" Ozzie announced. "Let's see how you deal with this!"

Ozzie floated away again, and we were left with the bizarre Slea. Slea created a pair of swords out of Fire and Ice, the two magic types Slash and Flea used. Slea sliced towards me with the Ice Brand, while the Flame Tongue sliced at Crono.

Slea said, with both heads at once, "Double Demon Fang!" as a two different elemental waves of energy flew at us. I jumped over the wave and sliced down with my blade as Crono rolled around and sliced horizontally. Slea slid backwards, leaving some sort of minor after-image effect, and our swords hit. Slea flew up and backwards before diving in our direction with Ice Brand pointed at us, accompanied with a shout of "Rising Falcon!"

The frozen air around the attack struck us both and I took major damage from the ice. Next to attack were Ayla and Glenn, with a new dual-tech that they had learned when training at the End of Time. It was called Desert Storm, and they whipped up a small whirlwind of sand that had Slea trapped in the center. Coming out of the whirlwind, with a cry of "Omega Tempest!" was Slea, with a vertical spinning attack. S/he struck Glenn with the move, then turned and knocked Ayla back with an attack called Raging Beast.

Magus, Lucca, and Marle teamed up for a new triple-tech, which they called Acid Mist. Magus had regained enough magic to use his Dark Mist, and when combined with the energy from an Antipode attack, it became a dangerous mist that could take off skin. Thankfully, it was Spekkio they had tested it on, and he has the regenerative abilities of the Tarrasque from Dungeons and Dragons. Slea screamed in pain, then retaliated by chanting a spell of some sort, a bright greenish-blue circle appearing under hir.

"May the merciless embrace of frost take thee. ABSOLUTE!" A spinning sphere of cold energy appeared and whipped out with tendrils of ice, freezing everything it touched. Suddenly, Marle was glowing with a light blue aura. The sphere started slowing down, but it wasn't stopped that easily. Then, Glenn started glowing yellow and the spell finally stopped and condensed into a little ball of cold. Glenn and Marle pulled their arms back and the sphere flew between them. It started growing bigger and they threw it back at Slea with a cry of "Frozen Tundra!"

Just before the attack would have hit, Slea sliced it in two with the Flame Tongue. The two halves hit the candelabra and pillars of ice appeared over them, the candles still glowing inside. Slea charged forward and performed the same movements as Rising Falcon, but instead had the Flame Tongue pointing down and calling out "Rising Phoenix!" The searing heat was felt by Magus as well as Marle, Lucca, and Glenn.

Crono, Magus, Glenn, and I moved into position for one of our stronger combo attacks: Twilight Cross. Crono coated Glenn's sword with lightning, though it was more made of light than electricity, and Magus surrounded my sword in darkness. We flew past Slea with an X-Strike type maneuver, and were stopped by hish own swords. The powers of Ice and Darkness, and Fire and Light clashed with each other. In struggling to get through and finish the blow I roared in rage, fire spiralling across my body until I stood as Barog. I applied pressure and the Ice Brand shattered, darkness sliced through the Slash side of Slea. Glenn, at the same time, used his wind magic to suck the oxygen out of the air around the Flame Tongue, completely erasing it without its fuel, and the light struck Flea. Marle and Lucca used the opportunity to combo a Delta Force with Crono, aiming it into a beam of tri-elemental energy that pierced through the bond holding Slea together.

Slea flew back, not entirely broken, and landed with a shudder. The two heads looked at me and Magus, before proclaiming us a blight upon our fellow Mystics.

We scoffed at the monstrosity, both telling it that we were never Mystics to begin with. Magus explained that he was using them to exact revenge against Lavos, whereas I mentioned that I was far greater than any Mystic hoped to be, since I was Barog Firestorm. I began laughing, full of one emotion: Pride.

"You were always fools apart. I guess it didn't make a difference when Zeal turned you into Slea. Contrary to what everyone says, two heads are not always better than one," Magus told hir.

At the name "Slea," they visibly bristled. "It's Flash, dammit! We've- I've told Ozzie that hundreds of times, and he still hasn't gotten it!" They then were surrounded by a wave of fire and ice, then disappeared.

We all took a minute to recuperate and drink some Elixirs that Spekkio gave us. I mentioned the secret room in the next room, along with Ozzie's poor trap for a treasure. We walked in and completely ignored Ozzie's taunts about his treasure, and just as we walked by, a Mystic appeared and went for the chest himself. When the guillotine sliced up the green imp, Ozzie stopped and gaped for a moment before saying "Oz... Ozzie's stumped! Outta here!" and vanishing. We went into the secret room and grabbed Magus' Doom Sickle, Gloom Helm, and Gloom Cape. He donned them and Crono grabbed the Full Ether from the chest, muttering about a mystic's life was lost just for an Ether.

We walked into the final large chamber, to see Slea/Flash and Ozzie going at it verbally until they noticed us. They agreed to stop arguing until we were dealt with, and turned towards us. Ozzie started out throwing up a large blue shield, though not as good as the one he usually hides under, Magus noted. As we beat down on it, I over heard three voices speaking in unison: "Infinite powers, grant me thy strength," it was being repeated several times. We broke through, and saw a large, mostly colourless circle around the three, er... two casters. They finished the spell and pointed at us speaking two last words. "Meteor Storm!" The whole fort began to rumble as the air filled with meteors striking all around us.

While I was certain that this would have normally been a non-elemental spell, I detected a definite fire attribute to it, and Ayla started throwing them around, showing that they included earth as well, and Glenn managed to push aside some others with his wind spells. I leaped forward and smashed the ground, casting a circle of flames that I turned into a net and caught several meteors in it. The heat was so intense, the meteors started melting, allowing me to fuse it into one big meteor that I smashed in front of Ozzie.

I would have hit Ozzie if he hadn't floated backwards at the last second, but then in my current state of mind, I wasn't thinking about "would haves" or "what ifs," I was only focused on one thing: I missed. That fact alone ticked me off to no end, and I charged in, sword aflame. Slea/Flash blocked my sword with a re-made Flame Tongue. I greedily absorbed the "sword" and grinned before slicing off Flea's head from the combined body. Magus came in behind the now one-headed chimera and sliced off Slash's head, looking very much like a Grim Reaper.

Next, we all turned towards Ozzie who was sweating up a river. He flew out of the room faster than a bullet, not even saying something like "Ozzie's in a jam." We chased after him and saw him in a room with three switches on the wall behind him.

"M-Magus! How could you! You said you wanted to create a world of evil!"

"I used you," Magus stated frankly. "My only goal was the destruction of Lavos. Say, do you hear that? It's the sound of the Reaper." Magus flashed his scythe with an evil grin.

"I-I can't lose. If I die, what will become of the Mystics?"

I snorted, "They'll be taken better care of than your descendants could have done."

Ozzie shivered and covered himself in his impervious shield. I lazily took aim at the far left switch on the wall and shot it. A hole appeared in the ground beneath us and everyone who couldn't fly or at least hover dove off to the side. Ozzie laughed from beneath the shield before taking a peak out from underneath. I smiled as he ducked under again.

I then heard a meow from behind us and simply waited for the orange cat to walk up to the switch on the right and push it. Why the cat was there, I didn't know and didn't exactly care. I was simply letting my prophecy from back in Magus' Castle come to pass. Ozzie screamed as he fell, somehow dying when he landed in his basement.

"There. The future has been changed. Let's go get my sword fixed." I turned back into myself as I turned, then suddenly realized I wasn't standing on the ground. I was hovering over the hole in the ground. "Oh, shite."

I started to fall, but then Glenn cast Wind and held me up. I thanked him and we walked out of the fort together. We sent Magus, Marle, Ayla, and Glenn back first then Glenn returned to pick us up and go to the End of Time. I cleared my throat and reminded Glenn that we were headed for Melchior's first, to get the Murasame fixed up.

We stopped by and Melchior was home this time. The Murasame was easy enough to fix, using the left-over Dreamstone to make it even stronger. Then we headed back to the End of Time to prepare for our next adventure.  
_  
"Blame your fate,"  
-Kratos Aurion, Tales of Symphonia._

The Tarrasque is a monster that has the ability to regenerate even if you burn the body and scatter the ashes to the farthest reaches in the world. It's also one of the few Colossal size monsters, and has the ability to swallow anything smaller than itself whole. Good thing there's (usually) only one, huh?


	20. Simultaneous SideQuests

A/N: Sorry this took me forever to get out, but I was having a rather severe case of writer's block, combined with yet another story idea (although I'd like o continue "My Story" I've decided I can't figure out where to go with it, and it's being discontinued), and on top of that, I've been on a job hunt for the past several months.

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter Twenty**

**Simultaneous Side-Quests**

Shadic the Hedgehog

"Alright guys, we've actually got a few things that can all be at least partially done with one trip to the year 600, and two of them are on the island of Choras," I said. "Also, I've been thinking more on the whole thing with the Demon Elementals, and I'm beginning to doubt that they'll show up again. Black Flame, or 'Xelloss' as he seems to be calling himself, was probably just trying to keep me from awakening, not knowing that I already had until I transformed. Actually, now that I think on it, the Blood Dragon said something to that effect."

"So we are not limited to you, Glenn, Marle, and Ayla?" asked Robo.

"Right. I still want Glenn on this trip, because it involves the ghost of Cyrus, but otherwise the other two spots are open."

"I'm going!" called out Lucca. "Like I said before, I've been dead for a while and I wan to get back in the game!" I laughed a bit before I reminded her about her world being a game in my world.

"What are the tasks you'll be working on?" asked Crono.

"Firstoff, we'll be repairing the Hero's Grave, and at the same time I'll talk with Toma about the Rainbow Shell. Then, once the grave is fixed up, we'll head to AD 1000 and power up the Masamune by having Glenn talk to Cyrus' ghost, as well as actually getting the location of the Shell itself. Then we return to 600 and clear out a path to the Shell that Guardia's troops can use to get the shell out of the cave and watch over it for us. Finally, we'll help with the replanting of Fiona's Forest and Ill go help make the Sun Stone quest easier."

"Sounds like a full plate," commented Lucca. "Maybe we should take everyone there and split up to get everything done faster."

"That's a pretty good idea," Crono nodded. "Glenn, Joe, Lucca, and Magus will be fixing up the Grave site, then, while Marle, Robo, Ayla and I will go through with the Rainbow Shell."

"Why should I be in the same group as him?!" demanded Magus and Glenn simultaneously, pointing at each other.

"Fine, we'll switch Robo and Glenn and switch tasks, sheesh. The tough part will be sharing the Epoch for time travel."

"Why don't you guys head out with the Epoch. We'll go through the Truce Canyon Gate, then once most of you are unloaded from the Epoch, send someone over to us with it." I suggested. "As long as we don't try to time travel, we should be alright with squeezing five people into the ship, right?" Everyone agreed to the idea, and we set the plan into motion.

As my group entered town to wait for the Epoch, some of the villagers started panicking. "Help it's Magus!" "I thought he was dead!" "Hurry, call the guards!" Eventually the streets were cleared of people save for the four of us, and I could have sworn Lucca and I had sweat-drops on our heads, much like any anime character.

"Well, it appears that I'm as infamous as always," Magus smirked.

"Yeah, well, don't get a big head," I admonished. "We're just supposed to wait until whomever Crono sends in the Epoch shows up to take us to Choras."

Lucca suddenly said, "Hmm. I wonder why, in my time, the ferry only goes to Domino and back, and not to Choras. That would be far more useful."

"I dunno, but it was actually quite laughable in the game," I chuckled. "It cost ten gold for a ferry ride when it was faster, not to mention free, just to simply walk across Zenan Bridge."

"Really? Then what purpose was there to include it?" asked Robo.

"In the original version of the game, Zenan Bridge was unusable until you beat Zombor and crossed it in this time period, so at the time it was only way between the cities."

"The Epoch approaches," Magus announced. "And the frog is driving."

I wasn't entirely sure how Magus could tell that Glenn was the pilot, though I noted that he called him "dumb frog" or "stupid toad" or whatever. Magus was proven right when the ship landed and Glenn got out. As we walked over to meet him I saw people peeking through their curtains, their faces full of hope upon seeing Glenn. _'They probably think we're here to fight it out. Wait'll they see us get in with him!'_

"What took you so long?" snapped Magus.

Glenn gave a melodramatic sigh. "Crono was taking too long in deciding who would pilot the ship, so I took the initiative and flew over myself."

Let's just get going." Magus had already swung himself into the driver's seat, cape fluttering dramatically. I got in on the passenger side while Lucca and Robo sat in the back, with Glenn on Robo's lap. I glanced at one of the windows that ad a villager peeking out and laughed, turning my hand into a claw to wave at them. Their face turned paler than a sheet and the ducked back in. I laughed harder, before wondering if I was getting too malicious.

Magus was rather good at flying for it being his first time in the pilot's seat, and we made it to Choras in what seem to be no time at all, which made me chuckle again as I remembered that we were flying in a time machine.

Thankfully, the people of Choras had no idea who Magus was, which disappointed him terribly, though were far more curious as over what Robo and the Epoch were than anything else.

"Okay, something I want the grave team to remember: when you see a weird-looking black chest in there, shine the pendant on them, but don't open them."

"Why not?" asked Marle.

"Because those chests are as much stones in time as the Black Omen, at least until the pendant anchors them to the timeline. After doing that, when you go back through the grave in 1000, you can open the chests to get better items that what you could back now."

Robo then surprised me by taking the next words right out of my mouth. "Also, when you return to this year, you can open the chests again, because they are still there."

Lucca and I stared at Robo for a moment before Crono protested, "but wouldn't that cause a paradox or something? I mean, we'd already have the items from the future, and when we take them from the past, they'll be gone from the future, so we couldn't have taken them, so we wouldn't have the items from the future... Or something like that."

Lucca shook her head. "If it were that easy to cause a paradox, we'd already be stuck in one. When Marle vanished in Guardia Castle AD 600, it was because she no longer existed, yet if that were the case, you wouldn't have bumped into her, Crono, plus her pendant wouldn't have been there to activated the gate in Leene Square using my TelePad as a power conduit, and neither of you would have gone into the past. And since neither of you would have gone into the past, she wouldn't have not existed because things were unaltered from the original timeline, which would have caused what we know happened to happen, which would have then caused them selves to not happen, and so on and so forth."

"Anyone else head hurt?" Ayla asked, looking thoroughly confused. Glenn raised his hand to agree and Marle followed suit.

Crono clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "Well, we'd best get to our tasks."

"We'll probably use the Epoch first, because it won't ake that long to talk with Toma," said. "Oh, and when we get back, we'll have the tools for the job."

"Huh?"

"You'll see."

We split up, Crono's team heading north for the Hero's Grave and mine for the Mayor's house, where Toma was getting the funds to find the Rainbow Shell. We watched for a little while, then followed Toma to the pub in which I talked to him about the Rainbow Shell thing. Once that was done, I ordered a bottle of so alcoholic drink (I forget which one) and we went back to the Epoch.

"What's that for?" asked Lucca.

"We pour it on his grave and his spirit, in thanks for the spirits, tells us the co-ordinates of the Rainbow Shell." Magus palmed his face at the bad pun, while Lucca chuckled silently.

We got back in the Epoch and I initiated a time jump to AD 1000. Upon arrival, we landed right next to the North Cape of Choras and I did what I said I was going to do. But rather than simply tell us the co-ordinates, he gave us a psychic vision of where the island was. We got back in the Epoch and, instead of jumping straight back to 600, I flew over to some guy's house, where I asked his wife if I could borrow his tools for a project I was working on. She stared at us for a moment before sighing.

"My no-good husband doesn't do any work anyway, so I'll just give them to you. He goes to the pub everyday and doesn't come home until late at night, and by then he's always too drunk to even stand straight." She continued this rant all the way to the kitchn and back out, where she handed us the collection of tools. I thanked her and walked back out to the Epoch. We arrived back in the Middle Ages just in time for Crono's team to emerge from the workman's house, looking rather annoyed. I hopped out of the Epoch and handed them what I had gotten from the future carpenter's wife. "There you go. Now you have the tools for the job. But first, could we get a fifth person to return the Epoch once we get to the Rainbow Shell?"

Crono was a little miffed that he hadn't figured out what my riddle had meant before, but volunteered to drives there anyway. Then Magus raised and interesting point.

"If these people have the Epoch over here, how am I-, that is, how are _we_ supposed to return to this continent?"

I pondered this for a moment, then got the idea to just send a flare up when we were done, and once every hour after that, so that they could find out if we were done. If they were done first, they'd be on the island proper.

The Lucca said, "And if worse comes to worse, I'm sure we can just persuade Joe to carry us back as Barog." Everyone agreed (except me, I didn't want to think of having water that close to me while trying to carry something) and then we took off. It was a short flight, and we all got off quickly, though I had to wait for Lucca, because she had decided to sit my lap for the journey.

As soon as the ship took off, I realized I should have had Crono switch with Robo, because the cave was full of dinosaurs. I didn't say anything though, because we still had magus with us, and he was capable of wide-range attacks of Fire, Ice, and Lightning. We got lost a couple of times in the caves, which were far more expansive that in the game (not to mention I had always gotten lost in there while playing the game anyway), but thankfully after defeating the first fifty or so dinosaurs, the rest decided we were more trouble than it was worth and stayed out of our path.

I managed to find the Blue Stone to teach Lucca, Robo, and Magus the Triple Tech Omega Flare (only then realizing that I actually had the Omega Flare team with me). Unlike the game, the Stone wasn't equipped to one of them allowing them all to use it, but rather shone a brighter blue before disintegrating and fusing with my teammates. Right after it happened, Magus grinned, then turned around and blasted a hole in the wall with a blast of pure Shadow magic.

After what seemed like another day of wandering (but my watch said was only five hours), we came across an enormous cavern containing a beast just as large: the Rust Tyrano. Lucca jumped when she saw it.

"Holy... How did that thing manage to survive this long?"

"You mean that _is_ the Black Tyrano from Tyrano Palace?!" I replied. "That would make it over 65 million years old!"

Even Magus looked shocked at that as he asked, "A beast that old? How could it survive?"

"I can only think of one explanation: since Tyrano Palace is where Lavos made touchdown, its strange radiation must have actually granted the Tyrano and all the dinosaurs from the cave immortality of a sort."

"Making him part of Lavos' leagacy, if you think about it," Lucca agreed. We both glanced at Magus as he pulled out his scythe, cape flowing majestically behind him.

"Anything created by the influence of Lavos will be destroyed. The Black Wind howls!" he charged at the Rust Tyrano, his gloves and scythe blade crackling with dark energy. I drew the Murasame and followed after, flames flowing across my own blade. I heard gunshots behind me as Lucca let loose on the monstrous T-Rex, but the bullets just bounced off, barely scratching it. Robo tried to use his Uzzi-Punch on it, but only made it more annoyed. Just before Magus and I were about to strike with our magically enhanced blades, it let forth with a roar just under Lavos' in magnitude that shook the cave to its foundations. Several large rocks began falling from the ceiling and I quickly grew out my wings so that I could dodge them, while Robo batted them away from himself and Lucca with his Rocket Punches. Magus wasn't so lucky and got struck right between the shoulder blades. He cried out in pain as he fell and I flew over to catch him before he hit the ground.

"This isn't good," I said, landing by Lucca and Robo. "It seems to have covered itself in really hard stone or something. That _would_ explain the colour change too..."

"Weapons may be useless..." hissed Magus. "So we try using magic..."

"Right. Robo, you don't use magic, so you heal up Magus while Lucca and I keep the Tyrano busy with spells. Once he's better, I want you guys try using the Omega Flare."

Everyone nodded and we moved into action. Lucca let loose with a Flare at the same moment I did, allowing us to use Twin Flare just like Giga Gaia had back on Mount Woe. I unleashed a few of my more minor Flare spells (A/N: which makes me think that perhaps instead of "Fire" I should have had Spekkio say his element was "Flare") across the bridge of the over-grown dino's nose while Lucca drank an Ether. I then caught Magus starting to cast his part of Omega Flare and jumped aside. Lucca soon joined Magus in chanting, and just as they finished and threw their spells upwards, Robo leapt into the air and opened his body to reveal the reflector unit he had installed to fight the Demon Elementals.

Robo was charging a laser by bouncing it around his reflector unit and shot it just in time to intercept the black flames of Lucca and Magus' combined spell. I could tell, without having experienced the version most often seen in the game, that this was a far more powerful Omega Flare than normal, which probably had something to do with Robo's reflector unit and my other teammate's increased magical training at the End of Time.

The Omega Flare was a stream of demonic black flames crested by white-hot ones being shoved and directed by the laser coming from Robo's chest. It tracked across the Rust Tyrano's muzzle several times, melting and sometimes even sublimating (A/N: if you're confused) the rock embedded in its scales. Just as the Omega Flare died away, I finished off the beast by jumping up on the beast's mouth and stabbing the Murasame through to its brain. It started to open it's mouth for one final roar, but died just as it's mouth opened, collapsing to the ground with an anticlimactic wheeze.

I momentarily left the Murasame in the head, charging enough magical fire through it that it would flow through the corpse's blood stream and turn it to ashes. Once the beast's corpse was out of the way, we saw IT. It was sitting in a shaft of moonlight that came through a hole in the cave's ceiling: the Rainbow Shell, in all its glorious hues. Even being shone on by the moon made it beautiful, the splash of colours glowing softly on the walls. Even Magus seemed awestruck by the glorious beauty in front of us. We then sat down around the shell to ponder a way to get the Shell out of the cave damaging it or even having the potential for danger that carrying it out through the caves would cause.

Next thing I knew, I was waking up to be almost blinded by the now sun-caused radiance from the Shell. I noticed also that Magus and Lucca were also asleep, though Magus' sleeping spot was not nearly as embarrassing as Lucca's. Lucca was asleep on my shoulder, even though she had sat down a good six feet away from me. Robo was, of course, the only one not sleeping, and might even have been continuing to think of a way to free the Rainbow Shell.

Robo looked my way and saw that I was awake. "I believe I have a plan," he whispered.

"That's good," I whispered back. "Let's wake up Lucca and Magus so that you don't have to explain it multiple times." He nodded and I shook Lucca awake gently. "Lucca, wake up."

"Hmm? Oh, wow," she yawned. "Morning certainly brightens the place up, doesn't it?"

"Annoyingly so," grumbled Magus, slipping the shades he had made back at the Beginning of Time on. I had quickly gotten used to the sudden change in the amount of light, but I had to agree with his next statement. "It's difficult to admire beauty when it can literally blind you."

"Well, Robo, what's your plan?" I asked.

"It is surprisingly simple. We move the Rainbow Shell out from under this hole, then blast said hole with as much explosive force as we can muster to widen it. After that I am pretty sure we can figure out a way to lift it out."

"Ah. Well then, I suppose that we should get to it, shouldn't we?" Flames coursed over my body, quickly transforming me into Barog for his formidable strength (though it was nowhere near Gaia's unless I was pissed off). Robo grabbed two other points than the one I was trying to keep my claws from gouging and we moved it away and behind on of the more intact boulders from the Rust Tyrano's roars.

As soon as that was done, Lucca and I started lining the hole with magic-produced bombs, napalm, and readied Point Flares. As soon as we managed to do that (quite liberally) we hid beside the Shell and I detonated all the Point flares at once. There was a massive chorus of explosions that rocked the cave enough to cause more rocks to fall from the ceiling, but Magus had covered us, including the Shell, with a barrier of Darkness that kept them at bay.

I stepped out to inspect the damage to find the hole had not only enlarged, but had become a new opening for the cave at ground level, with molten rock running down the beach. I quickly stepped into the stream of lava (still Barog, mind you) and started absorbing the heat until it solidified again. After that it was a simple procedure to slide the Rainbow Shell on the smooth stone onto the beach (but far enough from the ocean that it wouldn't get damaged in any way). Then we just had to wait for the Epoch to arrive. It took them about six hours to notice the Flares I was sending up hourly.

_"Ambassador, do you really want to know what's going on down there?"_

_ "Yes, absolutely!"_

"Boom. Boom boom boom. Boom boom. Boom! Have a nice day!"  


_ -Commander Susan Ivanova and Ambassador Londo Mollari, Babylon 5_


	21. The Desert Forest

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter Twenty-One**

**The Desert Forest**

Shadic the Hedgehog

It had been six hours since we left the caves when someone came to pick us up. They had just arrived back from looting the tomb in both time periods, and had powered up the Masamune when Glenn arrived to pick us up. When we returned to Choras, I explained a way to do the next set of the adventure.

"Our next stop is the planting of Fiona's Forest, near Domino, but we'll also need to have someone stop by Guardia Castle to have them retrieve the Rainbow Shell. I'm also planning on doing a minor solo journey to make the Sunstone quest somewhat easier. We'll want Magus and Marle for the fight in what is currently Fiona's Desert, as the boss monster is weak against Water-based attacks. However, I also think it would be a good idea to have it be Marle talk to King Guardia and a bad idea for Magus to be there when she does."

"Hmph," Magus snorted. "If it's all the same to you, oh mighty lord, I'd rather be there and explain that I'm no longer interested in their petty kingdom."

"You'll need some way past the guards," commented Crono. "We haven't been there in a while and if they see only one of us, us being Joe, Lucca, Marle, Glenn, and myself, they might think you've put us under a spell or something and attack."

"In that case, why not have the party consist of Magus, Marle, Crono, and myself. That way we have three heroes they know," suggested Glenn.

"You're actually volunteering to travel in a party with Magus? Better make sure Lavos isn't about to arrive early," Lucca joked.

"Guess that's a common theme in all worlds, joking about the apocalypse when something strange happens," I mentioned. "Anyway, who said we had to always travel in parties of four? Especially since we're all in the Middle Ages together already. I'll go ahead with my side-trip to Porre and meet you all at Fiona's house. It's near Glenn's place in the Cursed Woods."

"And how do you suggest we fit seven people in a ship built for four?" asked Robo.

"Good point. Er, Magus, I noticed you can hover when you want to go fast, does that power extend to flight?"

"Yes, though the further from a semi-solid surface I am the harder it is to stay up. I doubt I'd be able to keep up with the Epoch," He answered.

"Actually, you'd only have to keep up with me. I'll take you with me up to the Truce Gate, since I have to grab something in AD 1000 Porre before doing anything in AD 600 Porre, then you can fly off to meet everyone else at the castle."

"I shall accompany you as well," said Glenn. "As I can fly using my Wind magic. And we've already established that we can fit five people into the Epoch."

"Then I suppose that's settled. Let's make sure we're stocked up for the journey and be on our way." As everyone else headed off to make sure our inventory was in good order, Lucca approached me.

"I'm surprised," she stated.

"How so?"

"You've been Barog for the last six-and-a-half hours, and you haven't lost control once."

"It's rather difficult to sustain a feeling of calm when you have no emotional control, but it does keep me from rampaging. One of the more un-helpful things about my lack of control is that emotions tend to have other emotions linked to them. To quote an old movie from my world called Star Wars, 'Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.'"

"Wow, you really do have it tough. Well, at least you can remain calm."

Everyone gathered back together and we prepared to take off. Glenn had several Mid-Ethers that he bought with some of the money gotten by selling the gear in from the tomb. We took off in a north-easterly direction, watching as the Epoch took off at it's slightly faster pace. As we flew, I suddenly felt exhilarated. I was flying under my own power, just me, my wings, and the sky. I gave a cry of happiness as I climbed up to the clouds, and let loose a loud "YAHOOOOOOOOOOO!" as I dove back to where Glenn and Magus flew. I buzzed them, getting a yelp from Glenn and an annoyed sigh from Magus.

"This is awesome! I never knew flying could be so awesome! Why didn't anyone tell me how awesome it was?" I babbled.

Glenn muttered, "If he says 'awesome' one more time..."

I took off again, this time doing aerial tricks like barrel rolls and loops before coming back down with a cry of "AWESOME!" Magus bashed me in the back of the head with his fist the moment I got in range. I rubbed the spot with one hand as I pouted. "What was that for, Magus?"

"Quit acting like a child, we're on a mission."

"Aww, quit being such a sourpuss. I bet you acted that way when you first found out you could fly!"

"You'd be wrong. Now, if you're done messing around perhaps we could pick up the pace."

"You're gonna hafta lighten up one of these days," I grumbled.

"I doubt it." I started getting annoyed, and thanks to my unstable emotions, annoyed quickly became pissed.

"Quit acting like such a jerk!" I raised my hand and formed some fire into a weapon, and just as I was about hit Magus with it, Glenn tapped me on the shoulder. "What?!"

"Why do you have a hammer made of fire?" I blinked and looked at the weapon in my hand. Sure enough I had formed a hammer from fire. I was temporarily bewildered, which was a calm enough emotion that I could calm myself down again.

"No idea. Just felt oddly appropriate. I also felt like I should be yelling 'Magus no baka.'"

"Magus no baka? What's that mean?"

"If I remember what little Japanese I've read, it means 'stupid Magus.'"

Glenn snorted, which was really odd to hear come out of a frog's nose. Magus simply sped up, forcing us to catch up. I, thankfully, retained my calm as we continued the flight, which was mostly uneventful. Glenn had drank all but two of the Mid-Ethers by the time we reached land. I bid them farewell as we split up, them to the castle, and myself to the Truce Gate. Thankfully, Lucca had handed me the Gate Key before we separated and I used it to travel back to the End of Time, then a quick jump to Leene's Square in AD 1000. I transformed back into myself (though for some reason I wanted to start thinking of my original body as my "human form") got a room at the inn for the night, then prepared to take off then next morning.

I got as much altitude as I possibly could (which actually put me well above cloud level). I looked down at the world, and saw how everything looked like it did on the over-world part of the game. I looked south, and saw Mt. Denadoro, the Cursed Woods, and there, in the distance, was Porre. I took off, diving as I flew to reach as great a velocity as I could. Just as I flew over where Fiona's Forest would eventually be, I saw it shimmer slightly and a line of trees began to form on the northern side. I was beyond it a few seconds later, but I knew the significance of what I had seen: the gang must have fought the Retinite monster without me. Fine with me, I didn't want to fight any more than I absolutely had to. I reached the outskirts of Porre, and transformed back before entering the Snail Stop.

I examined the place, noting the Kilwala-like Mystic playing piano, and the patrons of the bar. I sat down at the bar myself and looked at the bartender. "Yo, I hear this place has good jerky, anyway I can try some out?"

"Oh? Where're you from, stranger?" asked the Bartender.

"Area of Truce, but I like to wander all over the place. Just recently arrived from Choras as a matter of fact."

"That so? Well, I'm not sure if you'll be able to afford my jerky."

"I'm sure I will, monsters tend to carry lots of money. Though I wonder how they get it in places no one's visited in a long time."

"I hear there's someone called Robina Hood that gives it to 'em, but I think that's absurd. Anyway, the jerky's nine thousand nine hundred gold. You sure you got that much?"

"Oh, yes, I have plenty. In fact, I think I'll get two." I reached into my gold sack and pulled out several smaller bags. "Each of these contains about two thousand gold each, so five outta do it, don'cha think?" Did I mention that the treasure from Cyrus's grave sold _really_ well? The music seemed to stop as everyone else in the bar turned to look at me.

"Er, right, uh, here's the jerky." He gave me two bags full of it. "And since I'm down to one bag I'll need to make more, excuse me."

I nodded to him and walked out the door, absently chewing on a strip of jerky. It _was_ good, though I couldn't quite identify the meat used. I was just about out of range of the village, and was about to transform when I heard several footsteps behind me.

"Gimme your gold, or die." Ah, brigands.

"Hmm, I wonder," I muttered to myself. "If I should handle this like Lina Inverse, or Barog Firestorm..."

"Hey, I'm talking to you! Do you want to die?!"

"Not particularly. You see, I just recently regained my memories from my previous lives and wouldn't want to work on getting them back all over again." I turned around. "Besides, my friends are going to need me back in the Middle Ages pretty soon." I studied the faces of the bandits as I contemplated being known as Joe McCord the Bandit Killer, before realizing giving them my other... I mean, my actual name would be a bad idea. Hmm, they were all from the Snail Stop. Apparently, they saw my vast amounts of cash.

"Then I suggest you give me your gold. I know you're loaded." That clinched it, they had seen my gold.

"You know what would've been smarter for you to do?" I asked, a light smile on my face.

"What?"

"Killing me while my back was turned and taking the money from my corpse. But now that you've alerted me, I'm going to have to do something with you." I smiled evilly and raised my hand, a flame dancing in my palm. I threw the fire at the ground under their feet, and released the weakest Point-Flare I could, while calling out a spell name. "Explosion Array!" The ground exploded and sent them into the sky, and as they fell back down, groaning as they hit, a sack of money fell into my hand, prompting me to comment. "Well, that was lucky."

One of them raised his head as I turned and prepared to transform. "Who- who are you?!"

I let the flames change me as I looked back. "I'm Barog Firestorm."Then I took off. I flew over the emerging forest to see a cathedral appearing as the edges of the still-growing forest spread. I landed outside of Truce and landed before changing back. I stretched my now human back and was startled to hear a loud ripping noise. I looked back and saw, to my dismay, that my precious leather coat had finally worn itself out, and my shirt was close splitting as well. Probably from all the times my wings appeared through it combined with all the fights we had been in, amongst other things. I returned to the inn and asked someone if they could recommend a good tailor for me to get new clothes from.

I visited the guy they recommended and I transformed into Barog for the measurements. He gave me a whole new outfit, though the colour scheme remained the same red and black, and replaced my old coat with a trench coat that extended all the way to my ankles. I paid for the outfit, even though he tried to give it to me for free, and left, returning to my original form before I went through the gate. I quickly returned to Truce Canyon and headed south, flying closer to the ground than I had been on my journey four-hundred years later and a few minutes ago.

I saw the Epoch still parked by Fiona's Villa and landed, just in time to see the group head for the sink-hole in the sand.

"What're you guy's doin' heading back in?" I yelled to them.

They all turned to look at me in surprise. Crono was the first to speak. "We're not headed back in, we're just going in now."

"That's... interesting. I saw the desert turning into a forest as I travelled in AD 1000, so I thought you had already gone in and fought the Retinite."

"Nope. You're just in time to join us." Suddenly, his pointed at me. "You mentioned something about this just before we fought the Heckran! 'You must wait for a forest to rise from the desert and a robot to work for four hundred years,' all because I asked who the Entity was."

"Well, we still have to go forward in time after we finish this off, so let's get crackin'. We'll discuss theories on the Entity later."

"Then can we ask about the new look?" asked Lucca with a raised eyebrow.

"My clothes were getting rather badly beat up thanks to my rapid transformations, so I found a tailor in Truce and he made me a fire-proof outfit to Barog's measurements."

It was a very un-eventful journey. Oh, sure there were plenty of monsters in the caves beneath the sand, but they didn't stand a chance against all eight of us at once. We made it to the boss chamber and saw the Retinite rise from the sand. I repeated the monster's weakness to water and we alternated comboing with Magus and Marle to fell the monster. Eventually, all that was left was the weird eye-thing in the middle that kept draining our blood.

Then we did something with an interesting effect: we blasted it with eight different spells at once. Crono used Luminaire, which apparently learned in the Hero's Grave, Lucca used Flare, Marle cast Ice 2, Robo activated his Mega-laser, Glenn used a new spell he called "Hurricane," Ayla pelted it with hundreds of little rocks thrown fast enough to ignite and called it "Meteo," Magus used Dark Mist, and I blasted it with Holy Flare. The resulting magical backlash actually blew us out of the cave, collapsing it. Ayla, Glenn, Marle, Robo, and Crono quickly cast healing spells (I noted Ayla's Cure 2 with interest) and we headed back to Fiona's.

We chatted with her for a little while before we left for the Epoch, though Robo stayed behind, since he was going to be planting and cultivating the trees for years to come. Once again, I took off for Porre, this time to drop off a bag the jerky I had bought (and I wonder still what recipe calls for jerky). Magus and Glenn started on their way to the Truce Gate, so the others could use the Epoch. I met them back at the gate and we did a quick jump through the End of Time to four hundred years later. We made a return flight to what was now Fiona's Forest, just in time to meet up with the gang as they activated Robo and left the Cathedral. Due to Glenn and Magus' magical exhaustion, and Robo wanting to celebrate our meeting again after 400 years of work, we decided to camp out for the night. And that's when Crono's long awaited discussion took place...

_"The future can be anything we want it to be, providing we have the faith and that we realize that peace, no less than war, required blood and sweat and tears."_ _-Charles F. Kettering_


	22. Memories of the Planet

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter Twenty-Two**

**Memories of the World**

Shadic the Hedgehog

As we settled into camp, Lucca and I starting a fire from some fallen branches, Robo began his speech on the Gates. "Now that I've had four hundred years to think on things, I have realized that perhaps Lavos was not the origin of the Time Gates."

I raised my hand, "Um Robo, I think I may have missed something. When did this theory of the Gates being Lavos-borne come into being?"

Crono answered, "After we defeated Azala at Tyrano Palace, Lavos fell from the sky and crushed it. In the crater where it fell, we found a Gate, and after going through, we returned to the End of Time, as we had an extra member, and told everyone the idea. It seemed reasonable considering the botched summoning spell created a Gate in Magus' Castle."

"Ah, thanks. Please continue, Robo."

"Well, my new theory on the origin of the Gates is that someone, or perhaps something wanted us, or at least someone, to see all this. The different events over time, that we have witnessed. It is almost as if some Entity wanted to relive its past."

"Ayla understand!" Ayla cheered, pumping her fist into the air, "When people die, elders say see whole life pass by eyes!"

"It does seem to hold that us mortals tend to relive their most profound memories before death claims them. But it seems those memories are usually sad ones..." Glenn agreed.

"Probably because thinking things like, 'If only I had done this,' or, 'I shouldn't have done that...' triggers unpleasant, old memories. That is the most likely cause of such times," Robo commented.

"Do you think that will happen when our time comes?" asked Marle.

"Hopefully by then we'll have so many happy memories we'll forget all about the bad times," I replied. "But either way I don't know."

"Is there a bad time you'd want to change, Joe?"

"You have to ask?" I murmured, looking at Lucca. "But we already fixed it, so I don't have any major regrets otherwise."

"Not even if you could prevent yourself from coming here?" Crono interjected.

"Why would I want to do that? Despite all the near-death experiences I've been in the past few months, give or take all of eternity, I've had some fun and discovered I'm the re-incarnation of a God. Beats out lazing around home and going to school any day."

Marle, Crono, and Lucca chuckled, while most of the others in the party wondered what school was.

Glenn decided to return us to the original topic of the discussion, "It seems to me that whoever or whatever this Entity is, Lavos plays an integral part in it's life. After all, we've found evidence of Lavos in nearly every time period we could get to, especially now that the Black Omen floats above the world."

That comment made us all glance up in the direction we just _knew_ the Black Omen to be in, despite being unable to see it through the thick trees. Magus returned us once again to the thoughts of the Entity.

"So, just who could this Entity be? That it can manipulate space and time into Gates, and call together a group with a such a wide range of skills such as us? We have here, two swordsmen, a Robot, a cave-woman, representatives of every form of magic, and, though he may not have been in the group in the first telling of it's story, the God of Fire. I doubt this is mere coincidence."

"It is unknown just whose memories we are reliving, or how such a group could be called together through circumstance. It could very well be beyond our understanding, and our journey may fully come to an end when we discover this Entity's true form."

"I think it's the planet."

Everyone looked at Lucca, who had made the comment. "I mean, how else could we have gotten to sixty-five million BC _before_ Lavos' fall with enough time to get to know Ayla and the Ioka Villagers. Then there's the fact that Robo's time is the _farthest_ we can travel into the future, barring the End of Time, of course, and it's when the planet is dying and Lavos' spawn are trying to leave the world and do the same thing to others."

We all looked thoughtful at that before yet another person spoke up, only this time, none of us recognized the speaker. "I have another theory. Ever hear of the Progress?"

We reached for our weapons and looked for the speaker, who stepped forward to reveal himself. not long after. I couldn't quite make out his face, but his clothes were very familiar looking. Or at least, they looked like they were described in the books. The figure wore a well-cut tunic and leggings of black, with a silvery belt around his waist, a broadsword hanging off it, and a reversible silver-and-black cape down his back, clasped with a silver rose.

"Corwin of Amber!" I exclaimed. Then my ears caught calls from Magus, Ayla, and Robo.

"Master Corwin! I thought you had gone down with Zeal!"

"Elder Corwin! How be you here?"

"Sir Corwin, how is this possible?"

"All of you are right, but wrong as well," he replied. "I prefer to go by Corwin of Guardia these days, as I am the imprint he made upon the Progress as he made it, and the Progress itself rests beneath the Castle of Guardia. I have watched the rise and fall of civilizations, and even helped out where I could."

"Elder Corwin give very good advice to Ayla when Ayla young, help Ayla become strong leader," Ayla nodded. "So that mean Elder Corwin ghost now?"

"I suppose I am. After all, my son called me a 'Pattern Ghost' before I told him it was called the Progress, as he had encountered imprints of other people made by the Logrus and the True Pattern before he met me."

"If you've been a ghost this whole time, Master, then explain why you're only explaining yourself now," Magus growled.

"In time, my old student. But for now, I wish to tell you that the Entity you all were just discussing was the Progress. As the reason Guardia is an actual place, it has the ability to warp space and time, and through the prophecy of a girl not yet born, it learned about Lavos and how to keep it from destroying the world, which would include the Progress itself, had Lavos' Hell spawn been able to leave the atmosphere."

"So that is part of the reason you instructed me to seal myself in that room of Proto Dome in 1999," Robo commented.

"Partially, I suppose that's true. The other part, though, is that you just told me I would, so now I'm going to."

"Ayla's head starting to hurt."

Everyone else shared a light chuckle at the cave woman, before the topic became serious again. "When everyone next goes back to Ayla's time, leave a note with the Nu in Laruba Village that says, 'sixty-four million, nine-hundred eighty-seven thousand, nine hundred and ninety years from now, the Silver Rose teaches the magic-less prince of magic how to read the winds. You'll know what to do. PS, don't forget the Gurus.' Because of this note, I will have taught Prince Janus of Zeal how to pay enough attention to his surroundings and the magical threads of wind throughout the world that he will be the greatest spell caster of all time, and become a prophet when it is necessary."

"Why the Nu in Laruba Village?" asked Lucca.

"Because his name is Spekkio, and somehow he will, after reading that note, find the Progress and walk it. That will get the message to me, and through me, he will eventually ascend to become the God of War in the End of Time."

There was a stunned silence until Corwin turned to look at the moon. "I'm running out of energy, so I can't stay and chat much longer. I've delivered what message I could, but I'll probably see you guys later." He started to fade as he turned around. "Oh, and the King's trial is in two days, so be sure you get there in time..." his voice echoed the word "time" throughout the grove.

Marle looked about to ask another question when she suddenly up and conked out, asleep in an instant. Crono put her in her sleeping bag and we all got ready to sleep (or go into stand-by mode in Robo's case).

--

Later that night, I woke up to see Lucca walk by me. "Answering a call of nature?" I joked quietly. She "eeped" and spun to look at me before getting closer and whispering back.

"Not funny, but no, I'm not. I've got this weird feeling I should go over there." She pointed in the direction she was originally headed and from my angle on the ground I could see the sparkle of the closed Red Gate.

"Maybe I should go with you, after all, only Robo knows what lies in this forest."

"All right." I slipped out my own sleeping bag and shouldered my trench coat, not bothering to put my arms through the sleeves. We approached the area Lucca had pointed out and she stopped short of the closed Gate. "Why is there a Gate here?"

"Well... First I want to ask you a question when we had our earlier conversation. When Marle asked me if there was anything I would have wanted to change, did you ask yourself the same thing?"

"...Yes. Does that mean...?"

"This Gate is a special one. The only Red Gate I've heard of. Where normal gates take us to a specific time period in approximately the same spot, the Red Gate takes us somewhere else with only a minor deviation in time. This Gate, if I remember correctly goes back ten years, to when your Mom got caught in that machine."

Lucca covered her mouth with one hand then looked back at me. "I have to go and fix it. I want Mom to be able to talk long walks with Dad, and go somewhere without needing help. I didn't know the password then, but now that you're here we can change things. But... what if things change too much and somehow our journey becomes different? What if-"

"Shh, don't keep asking 'what if,' that just leads to trouble," I put my hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "Anyway, ten years isn't nearly enough time to cause effects THAT major to the time-stream. It didn't in the game, and so far, things have been going about the same as they have there. Do you want me along, or would you rather do this one alone?"

"I think... I think I should be okay on my own. But first, what's the password?"

"Lara, your Mom's name. In the kitchen is a sheet of paper that should confirm that, written by your Dad. You can stay as long as you need to there. Since the Red Gate brings you back with only a little time having passed on this end."

"Okay, thanks." She pulled out the Gate Key, but just before activating it, gave me a quick hug and kissed me on the cheek. She giggled slightly as I blushed, raising my hand to the spot, then turned and opened the Gate. The red light was brief, but just after the Gate closed, Robo stepped around a nearby tree.

"Robo? You're awake? Or, well, operating? Erm, what word would be best?" Robo gave a light chuckle, which prompted me to raise my eyebrows in amazement, before answering.

"Awake would be preferable, thank you. And, yes, I am," he gave another mechanical chuckle. "My sensors picked up your signatures and so I decided to investigate. I have learned over the years how to reserve my energy more efficiently, allowing me to work at normal parameters with minimal output. On top of that, I have done some minor reprogramming to give myself some emotional ability."

"So with all the time you had, do you know what the Ultimate Answer to life, the universe, and everything is?"

"Forty-two." We shared a quick laugh.

"So did you hear when Lucca was going?"

He nodded. "I already knew, somehow, about this Gate. I do not know what the outcome will be, but I do know that things will somehow work out."

As I was about to reply, the Gate re-opened, then closed permanently after Lucca stepped out. So I immediately turned my attention to Lucca and said, "So... how'd it go?"

She smiled at me with teary eyes. I knew that things had turned out for the best. "Everything was right. The password, the paper, all of it. Thing is, I remember things the way they were, and how they are now at the same time."

"That can happen, I suppose, when one changes time in small amounts," theorized Robo.

Lucca glanced over at him in surprise. "Robo...?"

Robo's eyes lit up a little and he opened his torso. "Here, this is for you. It is a piece of amber I created using the sap from a tree in my forest. It took 400 years and a lot of pressure to make! Keep it as a memento of this occasion."

"Thanks Robo, you're a good friend."

"I am happy that you think so."

We all returned to camp together, and in the morning, we set out for Guardia Castle.

_Either it possesses a certain element of irrationality itself, like living things, or it is an intelligence of such an order that some of its processes only seem irrational to lesser beings. Either explanation amounts to the same from a practical standpoint._

_-Merlin, Prince of Chaos, The (Second) Chronicles of Amber_

--

A/N: Wow, I sure updated fast this time, eh? and on my twentieth birthday to boot. The part in this chapter with Corwin just showed up, I didn't plan on it. Much like pretty much all of Chapter Eighteen. I hope you like this, and the next chapter is about King Guardia's trial and the fight against Yakra XIII! See ya then!


	23. The Case of the Missing Rainbow

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter Twenty-Three**

**The Case of the Missing Rainbow**

By: Shadic the Hedgehog

All eight of us were prepared for battle, in case the guards in Guardia Castle didn't want to let us in to see the King's trial. Especially since Crono, as well as possibly Lucca and myself, were wanted in Guardia. It didn't take us as long to get there as it would have normally, as we had a few methods of flying available to us, so instead of it taking three days to get to the Guardia, it only took us one. As we entered the castle, we heard a shout.

"Princess Nadia!" Not long after, the fake Chancellor walked in, seemingly uncaring about the fact that Crono was standing in the middle of the party, and was wanted for treason. "You had me worried, Princess! I understand your feelings, of course. The King places his realm above all else. It was the same even when your mother, Queen Aliza, passed away."

"W-what?" gasped Marle. Yakra XIII turned away, likely to hide his evil smirk at a successful manipulation.

"Oh, child... Forget I said anything." Marle started for him, to confront him directly about his words, but Crono put his hand on her shoulder, before whispering the word "trap" in her ear. Yakra XIII seemed to slouch slightly after a little while before walking away, then he commented. "Oh, and now that you've finally returned, won't you go see the King? His trial is due to start any minute now..."

The throne room doors shut before any of us could protest about the sudden change in schedule. Marle turned to face us.

"What kind of trap was it?" she demanded.

"That wasn't actually the Chancellor. It's a fake by the name of Yakra XIII," Crono explained. "Joe told me quite a bit about it last night, after you fell asleep in the forest. He wanted to get you mad and blame your dad for your mom's death."

"When really, from what I recall, she had a terrible and terminal illness," I said. "I also read some recent history back when Lucca and I were about to spring Crono from the jail, which mentioned that there was a doctor here who tried to heal her, but couldn't, so he closed up shop. Last anyone saw of him he was leaving for the El Nido Archipelago."

"Don't we have a trial to be interrupting?" grumbled Magus.

"Right, right. Lets go." We all walked off to the right side of the entrance hall and up the stairs to the court room. Two soldiers stood in our way.

"Entry is forbidden."

"You have no idea who you're talking to, do you?" I said. "First, we have Princess Nadia herself, followed by your greatest enemy from the past, Magus, along with the great hero Sir Glenn. I'd list off the rest, but I think that should be sufficient."

"Entry is forbidden." I sighed.

"Damn NPCs."

"LET ME THROUGH!" Marle screamed, prompting everyone else to put our hands over our ears. The guards jumped away in shock and Marle dashed in, but before the rest of us could approach, the guards stood in our way again. Several of us prepared to fight, but Crono asked us to stand down, Marle was the only one who needed to get in there.

After a minute or two, Marle came back out and explained to us that we needed to find the Rainbow Shell, placed somewhere in the castle, to free her father. We headed for the basement on the same side of the castle, as I knew that that's where it had been placed.

As we descended the steps, I could hear trace amounts of hissing laughter, which grew louder as we went further down. Just as we reached the bottom step, We could hear the conversation of two serpent Mystics.

"Looks like the boss is finally going to settle the score on his thirteen generation grudge!" Followed by more hissing laughter.

"Yeah, he's gonna get that king good with all that false evidence!" The two laughed again, but their laughter was short lived as Magus appeared behind them and swung his scythe, cutting their heads off.

"Idiots," I muttered as we walked along. "Never talk about you boss's plans where you can be overheard. Especially if you're just lackeys."

"Didn't do them much good anyway, though," countered Crono.

"True." We continued down the hallway, which was filled with a great deal of treasure that sorely tempted the hoarding dragon within me. Any enemy that appeared before us was quickly dispatched before they could get an attack in, as each usually had at least two or three attacks flying at them each.

It wasn't long before we reached the Rainbow Shell itself, it's radiance dimmed by the lack of sunlight, but still glorious by way of the torches lining the walls. One spot was quite obviously not shiny, due to the four-hundred year old note laid upon it. We approached and Marle pulled off the note, with Lucca reading it over her shoulder. I snapped off a reasonably sized piece to be used as evidence of the Shell's presence in the castle, when the girls finished reading the note.

"Knows just what to say, doesn't she?" chuckled Lucca.

"Too true, but right now, we have more important things to worry about!" I displayed the Rainbow Shard and we dashed away, moving even faster than before thanks to having cleared out all the enemies from the passage on the way in. We ran up to the courtroom to demand re-entry, Marle once again leading.

"I'm sorry, but the verdict is being cast right now, no entrance is permitted by anyone," answered the soldier.

Marle frowned and turned to the rest of the party. "Alright, there should be one more way in, but it might be a bit rough. Most of you should stay here and wait for the signal to enter. Joe, Barog's help would make things a lot easier."

I nodded and transformed, not bothering with being flashy and just transforming all at once. Marle lead me to a balcony as near to the courtroom as she could and pointed to the stained glass window. I grabbed her hands and picked her up, flying to the window at the back of the courtroom. Voices could be heard from within.

"A verdict has been reached! Five votes of Guilty to one Not Guilty! The defendant, King Guardia XXXIII, has been found guilty as charged."

The false Chancellor was trying to whisper his glee, but my newly sensitive hearing picked up his voice. "The line of Guardia has ended. This kingdom shall be mine!" Then, louder. "Take him away!"

At this point Marle shouted her own order. "WAIT!"

"Who said that?!" demanded Yakra XIII. Then there was a collective gasp as everyone (apparently) caught sight of our silhouette in the window. I flew forward, smashing open the glass, as Marle called out to her dad.

"Nadia!" "Princess!" shouted Yakra and the King at the same time, but the fake Chancellor continued.

"You're too late! His Grace has been found guilty! Not even a King is above the law!"

"Not when everything was a set-up!" I said, setting Marle on the ground.

"Nonsense! The King is a crook! He sold-"

"He sold nothing," I spat. "We found the Rainbow Shell, under guard by a pair of lackeys belonging to our dear faker here."

"And here's the proof!" Marle pulled out the Rainbow Shard and nearly everyone was blinded by the intense light that reflected off it from the sun shining through the window. That was the signal that brought the others through the doors of the courtroom, the guards on the other side apparently knocked out as well. Marle put the Shard away and we turned to Yakra XIII.

"Give it up, faker, your little scheme has failed." He looked at the floor, before his body started quivering.

"Heh heh..." We all reached for our weapons. "Hee hee hee! You're the ones who ought to give it up! If I can't avenge my ancestor the easy way, I'll just have to do it the hard way..." He began to glow as the judge, most of the audience, and the King fled the room. "Super, Ultra, Presto, TRANSFORM-O!"

"You'll go down just as easily as the first, Yakra XIII!" I shouted. The battle was over far too quickly, but that should have been expected with nearly three times as many people as should have been there. Oh, it was a little difficult to fight in such a confined space, but after Yakra XIII crushed the podium in the center of the room and part of the judge's bench with his charge attack, we gained more manoeuvre-room. He claimed that Yakra I had given him our secret weakness, but his weird spinning needle attack thingy barely did anything. I countered him with both my magic and the fact that we killed his ancestor long before he could divulge any secret weakness.

After he faded away, just like every other Mystic we'd fought, I picked up the key to the chest containing the real Chancellor, swiftly returning to my own form. As Marle and her father had their bonding moment, I quickly snuck out the door, intent on freeing the Chancellor as soon as I could. I was stopped in the hall by Melchior.

"Well, well. Quite the performance you put on in there, Master Firestorm," he chuckled.

"You knew I was Barog?"

"Why, yes. As the Guru of Life, I had to well acquainted with all the great legends dealing with the world, which was one of the reasons I never got involved in the Lavos business. Gaspar was always too busy working on his Time Egg, which I see turned out favourably, by Miss Ashtear's presence, while Belthasar was all about the philosophy of Nu. Drove us bonkers when he'd bring it up." We both laughed. "In any case, since I saw that there was actually a Rainbow Shell here, I was thinking of asking permission to make something out of it, that sort of material is very rare, especially here on the mainland. I shall talk with you later, perhaps?"

"Of course. Right now, I'm going to be freeing the real Chancellor from where this Yakra sealed him away. Er, could you please mention that to everyone for me? I'm not sure if anyone noticed me slip out, but if they suddenly wonder where I am...?"

"It is no trouble. Fare thee well."

"You too." We both continued on our ways, though mine took me all the way to the west wing of the castle, whereas his only took him a few floors down. The Chancellor, who was actually a fairly nice guy once I got the chance to talk to him, which was on the way to the throne room. I then apologized for stepping on his hands so hard back when we broke Crono out, because I had thought he was Yakra XII in disguise. He then informed me that it actually wasn't long after that that he had been locked in the box, though Yakra kept him alive to "refresh his form" or something like that.

I joined with everyone else as we walked out the door. Crono turned to me. "So, what's next on the list, Joe?"

"We've got only three side quests left. The Sun Stone, the Geno Dome, and the Black Omen itself. Fortunately, the first two start in AD 2300, so we can do the same thing we did for the Hero's Grave and the Rainbow Shell. Robo's needed for Geno Dome, because he was built there, whilst Magus and I would be good choices for the Sun Stone mission."

"I'll go with you on the Sun Stone mission, Joe," said Lucca.

"I'll go with Robo to Geno Dome," volunteered Glenn.

"Ayla go with Robo, too!" Ayla cheered.

"Hmm, I think that I'll do the Sun Stone thing with Joe, Magus, and Lucca," said Crono. "Guess that means you're going to the factory with Robo, Marle."

"That's alright," she smiled. "I'm sure we'll be alright."

We went separately to Proto Dome, where I informed them of how pretty much straight-forward the Sun Stone quest was, only it required us to travel through time more than them, so we got the Epoch after dropping off Robo's team at Geno Dome (which didn't actually have a dome over it). As I figured, the Sun Temple was a straight hallway to the eye-thing known as the Son of Sun. before we reached it, I started to explain the battle.

"There was a trick in the game that could be used to make this battle really easy, which is why Magus is here. Magus, you do have enough power to cast Dark Hole, right?"

"Yes, I do."

"Good. You and I will be absorbing the little flames that the Son of Sun uses to shield itself from attack until only the true heart of the boss is left. It's the only one that Dark Hole won't affect, so we should be good there. Crono, you and Lucca should have the most obvious tactic: attack the shield flames until you hit the heart flame. It will cast Flare if you get the wrong one, but I'll leave some attention to absorbing those while I work on the flames." I held up my hand and covered it in flame, before spreading it across my body in a very flashy manner, my wings and tail forming from their own fiery outlines in a very artistic (to my already warping mind) way. I smirked with pride and strode forward, expecting the others to follow me.

The battle started with the opening of the Son's eye, before it was surrounded by far more flames than I recalled there being before. But in my arrogant state of mind, I paid that fact no mind and simply started absorbing the flames, as Magus cast a few Dark Holes before he collapsed from magical exhaustion. Crono and Lucca set off a few Flares that I dutifully absorbed, but without warning the power behind those spells and the magical flames I was already absorbing started to make me giddy and more arrogant, my power was growing with every flame I absorbed and eventually I had absorbed every flame, including the heart one.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, I had steadily been growing larger with every bit of power I had absorbed, though I had perceived it as the Sun shrinking as it /lost/ power. I then picked up the eye in my hand, itself no bigger than my own eye at the time, and crushed it, absorbing the last of the fire within it. That's when things went from "arrogant" to "ass."

"Heh heh heh... Hahaha... HAHAHAHAHA! I am all powerful! There is nothing in this world greater than I am, not even the pebble Lavos! I am UNBEATABLE! HAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAA!"

The others (except for Magus) informed me later that they were terrified at my sudden change of heart. I hadn't looked at the party, either, until Lucca whispered my name in fear.

"J-Joe? What's going on?" I glanced at the party with contempt born of pride evident on my face.

"My power has grown stronger, my true self awakened! _I_ will kill Lavos myself! The rest of you are unnecessary!" I walked towards the door, compressing my form to leave through the door when Magus grabbed my arm.

"What the HELL do you think you're-" I cut him off with a light backhand to the face, sending him almost tumbling into the lava on the side of the catwalk.

"Never speak to me in that way again, Magus. It will not be tolerated." My eyes narrowed when I saw Crono step in view, sword held at the ready. "Please. Do you REALLY think you can fight ME? I am Barog Firestorm, the God of Fire!" Now, it is at this point in the story I must remind you that, yes, Barog is one of the Good Gods. But even the greatest of heroes can get lost in the heat of the moment, and with Barog's emotions, every second is the "heat of the moment."

"I shouldn't have to fight you. You're one of us!" Crono pleaded.

I laughed. "One of _you_? I am no more human than I am Mystic! I. Am. A. GOD!"

"But that didn't stop you from joining us. That didn't stop you from deciding to stick with us. YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS!"

I reached for the Murasame, but found my hand repelled by the hilt of my sword, the pain too great to bear, stronger even than my power of Fire. I made it appear as though I had merely decided against drawing it and manifested flames in both hands. "A 'good guy?' Yes, I would even go so far as to call myself a hero. But that doesn't mean I need mortal help anymore." I reared an arm back to throw the fireball, when sudden footsteps came from off to my side, a pair of arms wrapping around me. Crono looked shocked, Magus's eyes had widened almost imperceptibly, and my overwhelming pride was quickly swept away by overwhelming confusion as I noted that the arms weren't trying to crush me. They were rather gentle, in fact. And accompanied by the sound of crying.

"Please Joe, come back to us," cried Lucca. Her voice softened slightly as she added. "Come back to me." Then, even softer, "I love you." My conscience seized that sentence and pulled up every memory I had of Lucca, and I found myself overwhelmed again, by a new form of emotional serenity. I changed back and quickly turned around before nearly crushing her with a hug of my own. Tears spilled down my face.

"I love you, too," I whispered hoarsely. "I love you, too." We looked into each other's eyes for what seemed the longest moment of my life before we leaned towards each other. I could feel her heart beating alongside mine, in almost perfect rhythm. I could hear her breath, my senses seeming to become greater than they had been when I was Barog. Our lips made contact and-

"Would you two cut the mushy crap?" growled Magus. "We're here for the Sun Stone, dammit." Fire burned in my eyes as Lucca and I turned to face him, the moment lost.

"Are you a masochist, Magus? Perhaps one who likes to burn himself? BECAUSE YOU SURE AS HELL SEEM TO LIKE TEMPTING ME INTO ROASTING YOU!" Lucca glared at him as well, and Crono was almost just as pissed. Magus sighed out his nose turning to follow the path further into the Sun Temple. Crono smiled at us gently and turned to follow.

"Now," I asked, "where were we?" Lucca giggled and we resumed our kiss.

_"Just who the hell do you think I am?!"_

_-Kamina, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann_

A/N: And after nearly three-quarters of a year, I get inspiration again! It's actually because I started playing Chrono Cross and keep thinking about the sequel I had planned ever since I first played it. Can't start a sequel without finishing the first story!

As for the last scene, I've had it planned ever since waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in chapter nine, when I decided I was going to pair up Lucca with Barog-me. I should probably also mention that it was not at all inspired by the season finale of Ben 10: Alien Force's scene between Gwen and Kevin. Outside of this particular pairing, I'm actually quite the fan of LuMa (Lucca/Magus). There's another planned surprise for next chapter, then there's only two to go before the end!

I was thinking of trying to incorporate the new dungeons for CTDS in the story, just to confuse the hell out of the me in the story (who is, btw, fourteen and left our world in 2002). Then I noted that since this me had killed Dalton, his role in that one Rift wouldn't work anymore, and from what I've read the "hidden forest" or whatever one that has you running between Prehistoria and the Middle Ages is rather boring and convoluted, so I scrapped that idea.

Oh, and since "Kid" is a really dumb name for a kid, can anyone suggest a good name for her when Barog-Joe and Lucca adopt her?


	24. A Promise and Light Through the Ages

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter Twenty-Four**

**A Promise and Light Through the Ages**

By: Shadic the Hedgehog

After Lucca and I decided to stop kissing (I don't know how long it was, I didn't have a watch or anything like that), we went to meet up with Crono and Magus at the Moon Stone. Lucca and I blushed a bit when we saw Crono smiling lightly at us, but Lucca quickly shook it off and went to examine the stone.

"Hmm, it's obvious this hasn't had much chance to absorb energy, it's completely depleted!" She picked it up, the stone itself surprisingly small and porous in comparison to the game sprite that was used for it. "We could recharge it if we put it in the sun, but..."

I picked up where she trailed off. "But it's so low on power that it would take millenia to return it to full capacity."

Magus nodded. "I know of a place we could store it. I'm sure you know of a when."

"We place it in the Sun Shrine in sixty-five million BC. We'll have to make a stop in Porre in AD 1000, because someone found it, but then we just have to put it back in the Shrine."

We all nodded and headed back out to the Epoch, Lucca and I sitting in back while Crono piloted. We lay against each other, still basking in the glow of our newfound love, as Magus tried to pay us no attention. We arrived quickly in Prehistoria and Magus guided Crono in the general direction of the Shrine. Or as I said, "North. Lots of North," which earned me a half-lidded glare from Magus.

Crono said that we could stay behind as he and Magus went in, and I thanked him. Lucca and I spent the five minutes or so that the two of them were in the Shrine just talking about ourselves and some funny stories from our childhoods. I was just telling her about my unfortunate temper attack in sixth grade when Crono and Magus emerged. They got in without a word, and took off for the year 1000.

We arrived quickly and Crono flew us down to Porre, where I decided I wanted to get out with them to talk with the Mayor of Porre.

The mayor was a nice guy, what with my slight tampering with his family values, and handed us the Waxing Moon Stone. We returned to the Epoch again and landed in the Sun Shrine. Once again, Lucca and I decided to join them as they entered.

As we walked through the cave, I felt a strange shiver down my spine and I looked around. Much like the entrance to Arris Dome and the Giant's Claw caverns, the passageway to the Sun Shrine was larger than the game had shown. We continued on our way to the Shrine itself and placed the stone in the sunlight, on an area of the floor that was, interestingly enough, darker than the surrounding rock and the exact shape of the stone. I hadn't realized that rock could bleach.

While we were leaving, I felt the shiver again, and this time I could feel where the strange sensation was coming from.

"Guys," I started, drawing everyone's attention. "Did any of you feel something strange just a little bit ago?"

Crono and Lucca shook their heads, but Magus replied, "There's a disturbance in the space-time continuum here. I did not notice it until you said something, so I don't know if it's only in this time period, but if it's a Gate..." We headed in the direction Magus and I felt the disturbance and found ourselves looking at...

"It's a Universe Gate!" I exclaimed. "I wonder if it leads back to my world, or if it leads to some other one..."

"I'd say there's only one way to find out," said Lucca, holding up the Gate Key. Crono looked confused for a moment, until the U-Gate opened.

"It's... Green," he commented.

"And?" I returned. "I'll go through first. If it's safe, I'll bring you guys through." They all nodded and I strode forward, hand on the Murasame's hilt. I wondered at how it hadn't hurt this time, like it had when I was Barog in the Sun Palace, but decided I could leave that for some other time. The usual sensation of Gate travel surrounded me as I travelled, and I found myself standing in someone's house. The house seemed very familiar to me, but I couldn't quite place who it might have belonged to. I stepped back through and brought the others with me this time, and the U-Gate closed behind us. It was still there, just closed.

As I stared at the various coloured glasses in the front window, I heard a voice behind me. A very familiar voice. "I shouldn't have had all five of those pizzas last night."

I whipped around. "Tob!" It was one of my best friends from S.C.A., Toby Howard, and he was looking really confused and holding his hand to his stomach. "The Gate did bring me back home! Well, sorta. Guys, this is my buddy Tob, Tob these are Lucca, Crono, and Magus. Yes, from Chrono Trigger."

He blinked a few times, then stepped forward and punched my arm. I didn't feel a thing, other than the fact that I had been punched, but that was to be expected with how strong I had become. He shook his hand lightly as he stared. "You're really here... Do you realize how worried you made everyone? They thought you ran away from home or something!"

I winced. "I hadn't meant to make everyone worry, but this is the first Gate home I'd found since the one I crossed over with disappeared! What all's happened since I left?"

"You really want me to try to sum up a year of worry and sorrow?"

I sat down heavily on the easy chair I was standing next to as Lucca, Crono, and Magus sorta shrugged and sat down on the couch. "A-A year? But... I've only been adventuring on Chronos for three months!" There was a silence as we assimilated the information. Tob broke the silence after a tense minute.

"So... Where are you in the adventure? Is there any chance I could join? I'll leave a note and evidence and stuff if I can, but..."

"We're on the last step before fight Lavos, just before the Black Omen. I'm sorry, but I think you'd be better off here." He looked a little crestfallen, so I added a little more. "I know: when we've finished off Lavos, I'll come back and get you."

"You promise?"

"I swear it. Also, though it means a bit more traffic through your house, it means I'll be able to visit everyone again and tell them how things went."

We chatted for a little while longer, until I felt we should get back to the battle against Lavos, and Tob asked if he could get a picture of us, just so he knew it wasn't a dream that we had talked, and so he could show it to Mom and Dad as proof of where I was. Lucca opened the U-Gate and we crossed back through it. As we emerged on the other side, I turned to the others.

"So, why were you guys so quiet back there? Couldn't think of anything to say?"

Lucca shook her head, "No. We couldn't understand a word you two were saying most of the time. You seemed to be speaking a completely different language." I froze, confusion evident upon my face, as I contemplated how it was possible that I could sound like I was speaking one language and actually be speaking another one altogether.

"Perhaps it is an extension of your godly powers," commented Magus. "You, as Barog Firestorm, exist on some level in every universe, so you must be able to speak in every universe."

"But I wasn't Barog at the time," I protested.

"If I recall, you no longer need to be in Barog's form to be immune to fire, so why wouldn't the same idea work with languages?" I thought about that for a moment before Crono commented on something.

"Um, I thought I was supposed to be able to see a Universe Gate once I had crossed through it."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "You should, yes. Why?"

"Because I don't see it." I turned to look and found the U-Gate gone, just like the one back in Leene's Square back at the beginning of the adventure. I fell to my knees in shock.

"No... No... WHY?! I-I wanted to go home after we were done, see everyone again..." I started crying, Lucca hugging me from behind. "Tell them about the grand adventure..."

Magus, though I couldn't see him, turned away and walked slowly out of the cave. At first I thought he was just being a bit of a cold-hearted bastard as usual, but once I got to know him better, he explained that he was coming to terms with having a kindred spirit in the group. Someone else stranded far from home, never able to return the way we wanted to. Magus wanted to have a childhood un-interrupted by Lavos, to grow up as normal as a prince of a magical kingdom could. I just wanted to freely travel between my homes...

I woke up back at the End of Time, apparently having cried myself to sleep back in the Sun Shrine. Lucca was curled up beside me, our bodies somewhat intertwined. I smiled as I peered at her sleeping face, so peaceful in her slumber. That was when I made a resolution: I may have been cut off from my family and friends on Earth, but I had the gang here, and perhaps even a new family with Lucca. Earth would always be fondly remembered, but now... Now Chronos is the place I call home.

It was after Lucca and I woke up (myself for a second time) and Robo's crew from Geno Dome returned, Atropos's ribbon plugged into Robo's core, that we finally stopped by Lucca's house, followed by Melchior's, to get Taban-edition sunglasses, Lucca's Wondershot, and Crono's Rainbow. It just so happened that Taban's sunglasses actually looked more like sun-goggles, so I switched out my original pair for them, proclaiming myself the group's "goggle-head."

We all gathered in the End of Time, preparing for our assault on the Black Omen. It was pointless, I knew, to try and enter in AD 2300, because doing so wouldn't stop the Day of Lavos. I recommended attacking in 12,000 BC, simply because the Omen had only just recently risen there. Once again, we would split up, though it was only temporary. Magus, Glenn, and I were to travel by Gate with one other person and then fly to the floating fortress, while the other four would simply get there in the Epoch. Lucca volunteered to travel with my group, which was of little surprise, though Magus rolled his eyes again.

Crono's team headed for the Epoch, while we made for the Gate Room. The Black Omen was about to disappear, and Lavos would be soon to follow.

It was time to be Big Damn Heroes.

_"Ready?"  
"Why do your people always ask if someone is ready right before you're going to do something massively unwise?"  
"Tradition."  
-Ambassadors Jeffery Sinclair and Delenn, Babylon 5_


	25. Assault on the Black Omen

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter 25**

**Assault on the Black Omen**

Shadic the Hedgehog

It wasn't hard to find the Omen, because, as soon as we came out of the Gate cave in 12,000 BC, it was floating almost directly above us. I flash-flamed into Barog, keeping a tight reign on my emotions as I picked up Lucca and took off for the landing platform. Magus and Glenn landed moments behind us, as the Epoch came flying out of warp and deposited the other half of the team nearby. We approached the entrance as one. On the way, I returned to my normal form, determined to be Barog for as little time as I could manage.

The door opened and Queen Zeal stood there, waiting for us.

"Fools! Have you not learned your lesson? We are made immortal! We shall live forever with Lavos, who feasts upon this planet from within!" she cried, a manic gleam in her eyes. "Now, he rests and gathers strength, but in a mere 14,000 years, he will emerge to -"

"Shut it, Queenie," I interrupted. "We're here to keep Lavos from doing any such thing. And on top of that, your precious Black Omen is going to go down with him, so no more immortality for you."

She glared at me, then summoned the Mega Mutant. "The only purpose left to you is as a sacrifice! Do yourselves a favour and remember that!" She faded out, leaving us to battle.

The Mega Mutant, being the weakest of the Mutants, was taken out by one attack from each of us, and they were each our level two spells. Lightning 2, Fire 2, Ice 2, Wind 2, Chaos Flare, Dark Mist, Laser Spin, and Earth 2 were rained upon it, striking both body parts at once, and destroying it utterly. We didn't need to name this eight-fold attack, but I mentally catalogued it as the Elemental Barrage.

We continued on, ripping through all the enemies that got in our way. Sometimes we'd accidentally heal them, only for the next attack to reverse the healing. We split up within the group depending on how many monsters we were facing, but we usually fought in pairs consisting of myself and Lucca, Marle and Crono, Ayla and Robo, and (surprisingly) Magus and Glenn. Sometimes we'd mix-and-match to use the occasional triple-tech or quadra-tech, but mostly we just slaughtered all the monsters we came across.

Fighting the walls was an interesting experience, and the eye enemies were tough with their ability to Lock our magic, but the most annoying enemies were the Metal Mutants, who would target one person to drain from the whole battle, and it was usually Robo. As we reached the teleporter leading to the elevator, we stopped and used a few items to heal us up before continuing. Every time we came to a room with panels that looked like Panels, I would blast the wall, just in case, and I was continually apprehensive about running into the next Mutant, not remembering where exactly it was.

We stopped and shopped with the Nus that apparently lived in the Black Omen, and I sympathized with the shop-keeper, as it had to be difficult to get customers on floating death machine. We fought our second Tubster after that, followed quickly by a pair of Gato rip-offs that got Lucca both huffy about having her work stolen and proud that her work was worthy to be copied.

Our third Tubster fight came in a room with a rather interesting statue that made me think of a fairy of some kind, and it was accompanied by a pair of Flyclops. But our previous experience with the monsters let us make short work of them. Another Gato rip-off battle occurred after that, save that it was only one and accompanied by a turret-like monster. We reached another teleporter after that, though this one was of a different configuration than the last.

After that came a part that made me groan after I saw it: the maze. I intensely disliked mazes like this, as I always got lost in them in the game. We then encountered a group of creatures that looked like they were made from sewage and made noises like "Narble" and "Ghaj." We soon discovered that using magic on them caused them to hit us with a spell that made us like we used all our magic in one go, so Ayla beat them down with her fists (then disgustedly wiped her hands off on the floor). After the maze (and two more "Ghaj" creatures) we came across a Safe Sphere and rested for a while, using a Shelter to fully cure us.

As we continued on, the floor ahead of us glowed with the colours of the original four elements before, finally, the Giga Mutant appeared. We launched another Elemental Barrage, but the thing didn't go down so we blasted it with another, and resolved to destroy the Tera Mutant with our most powerful spells all at once, like what we had done to the Retinite, only bigger. I mentally dubbed the combination of Luminaire, Flare, Dark Matter, Ice 2, Hurricane, Meteor, Holy Flare, and Electrocute as "Omega Barrage," and we continued onward.

After the teleporter in the next room was yet another elevator, and we were attacked by two-headed snake things just like the last ones, once again making short work of them, but then we were unexpectedly attacked by the winged yellow guys, one of them immediately dropping Magus on his head, which was immediately cured by Marle. Lucca and I simply used Twin Flare and disintegrated them almost immediately.

It seemed that this elevator was more enemy-infested than the last, as not much later, another pair of blue Gatos dropped out of the sky beside us, narrowly missing Crono and Ayla. After making short work of them, I started to wonder if we were becoming over-powered, before I remembered that eight people would be faster at destroying them than three, anyway. We got off the elevator and continued, smashing through anything that got in our way again.

Our fourth Tubster battle put us up against two of them, but our teams of Crono, Marle, Glenn, and Ayla and Magus, Lucca, Robo, and myself were able to utterly ruin them. After that one, my panel paranoia paid off as I destroyed four of them just before their electricity would have arced through us all. Immediately after that was the Tera Mutant, which we quickly unleashed the Omega Barrage on, the mixture of the six elements (plus robot's electricity and a second fire technique) blowing it and the door and most of the wall behind it into oblivion.

We passed through the open hole and down a long hallway, before entering a room that seemed to have six Panels in it. But instead, a purple light shone through the room, a small Gate forming before expanding into a Lavos Spawn bigger than the ones we had faced down at Death Peak. I was momentarily surprised, as I had known that the only Lavos Spawns in the game had been the ones on Death Peak, there weren't supposed to be any here! I quickly reminded everyone to focus on the eye, because the shell's counter-attack could potentially slaughter all of us at once, especially considering the size of this one. The battle was rather grueling considering we couldn't use our wide-area destruction techniques on it, having to focus everything we had on one spot.

Eventually we managed to defeat it, but we stayed behind in that room for a while to recuperate from the beating we had taken. The next room's only enemies were a set of four normal Panels and one that looked more ornate. A quick Flare took care of them all in one shot, though. A Safe Sphere appeared and a Shelter was used before we moved on to the next room, the weirdest room in the entirety of the Omen.

I'm not sure if they were clones floating in tubes, or if they were holograms, but every few feet along the hallway, were us. Including Magus and Barog, something I knew wasn't in the original game. We walked along apprehensively, massively creeped out by the stillness of the floating copies. I assured everyone that we wouldn't have to fight them, but the shivers weren't going away. We approached the ruins of the Mammon Machine, and the Queen once again appeared before us.

"I know what you have seen," she said. "It is your futures that slumber in this hall. Destiny in its essential form. All the dreams that might have been. All the happiness and sorrow that you might have known. Your tomorrows, as they have been witnessed." She turned away from us before continuing. "The Black Omen transcends time and space, drifting through the all and nothing, waiting for Lavos to awaken..." She turned back, her royal cloak flapping majestically in a wind none of us could feel. "Destiny has led you here, and here you shall remain."

"Destiny? Hah!" I retorted. "The only destiny is the one we make. This flying fortress is going down, you're going down. Lavos is going to die. That's all there is to it." We all pulled out our weapons and prepared to fight.

"Come, children! Lavos slumbers and I will guide you to the depths of his dream! Oh, did I say dream? I meant his eternal nightmare!" She started cackling madly, and then the battle started. We didn't attack her as extremely as we had the Mutants, but attacks from eight different sources still took a toll on her.

Halation was a horrible experience, the wave of rainbow energy seeming to bring back every wound we had ever suffered. It was only by the virtue of Marle and Glenn acting as dedicated healers that kept us from dying every time she used it. After a couple minutes of battle, she suddenly groaned.

"My powers don't seem to work here. Ah, but I've an excellent idea! I'll feed you all to the Mammon Machine! You'll become on with the Omen, Lavos, and me!" She floated above the wreckage of the Machine and suddenly everything went dark. Next thing we knew, we were standing in front of the whole and original Mammon Machine.

"Glenn!" I shouted. "Remember how the original purpose of the Masamune was to stop this thing as the Ruby Knife? Well, it still works that way! Start beating on it with your sword!"

"What about the Murasame?" asked Crono.

"The Murasame was created when my dad's sword struck the Machine, drawing out Mura and Samé. I don't think that hitting it with it's supposed power source is going to be very helpful here."

"Ah. So you're going to be using magic?"

"I'm going to be using magic."

We assaulted the Machine with the Masamune in every combo attack we had with Glenn, as well as using a majority of our purely magical combo attacks. It was rather surprising how quickly the thing went down, actually. Everything faded out again, but when the light returned this time we found ourselves standing atop the Omen.

In a series of flashing lights, the Queen appeared. "You maggots... I am the Queen who shall rule for all eternity at Lavos's side! YOU WILL NOT STAND IN MY WAY!"

"Fool," muttered Magus. "No thing, no life, can last forever. You are deceived. A pitiable plight... One deserving of mercy, at least. I will put an end to all of this!"

"Accursed prophet! Do not think I have forgotten your transgression at the Ocean Palace! YOU shall pay for it now with your life!" In a bright, white light, the Queen's human form disappeared to be replaced by a floating head and hands, each hand as big as one of us.

This time we did launch the Omega Barrage at her, and though it seemed to affect the head pretty badly, the hands were mostly unaffected, and even blasted Magus and I with a technique that drained us of our magic, and Robo and Crono got caught with one that wounded them severely. Thankfully, we had picked up a lot of Megalixirs along the way up the Omen, so it was quickly fixed, but with our ability to cast widespread damage curtailed, we were in for a long battle. Not even using physical techniques like Uzzi Punch or Stone Toss seemed to phase the hands any, only causing them to retaliate with their magic and life draining attacks.

It's difficult to describe the battle, what with eight combatants on one side and three-in-one on the other, but after sustaining heavy damage (Halation again, ugh), and using a great many Elixirs and Megalixirs we managed to kill the head. And with the head, the hands disappeared as well. Then Queen Zeal reappeared.

"How- how dare you...? Lavos! Lend me your power!" at this cry, a bright light emerged from under the Black Omen. "At last! Lavos awakens again! Before him, you are as grist before the wheel! But I shall attain true immortality!" She faded away as the light grew brighter, until it swallowed the Omen. Then we found ourselves standing in front of Lavos, the great destroyer himself.

"_Shit."_

_-The Hero of Oakvale, Fable._

A/N: I wrote this whole chapter while I ran through the Black Omen on my DS using Magus, Lucca and Robo. I changed a few things from the DS, especially some of the names I had already made references to, like the Tubster and Uzzi Punch, but it was nice to play the whole game through anywhere I wanted to. Please, tell me what you think (I know that I didn't have much dialogue or battle descriptions in this chapter, but at least I got it out before next year, right?), and the next two chapters should be up soon, followed by the Epilogue. Why two? Well, there's the battle against Lavos, then the game's ending (with Barog-Joe thrown in). The Epilogue takes place a few years after that.

Oh, and I want everyone's opinion. Should I go through Lavos taking on the forms of previous bosses, or should I just skip straight to fighting his shell?

And yes, I realize that my chapters have been getting shorter for a while now, but the last regular chapter and the epilogue should make up for that.


	26. The Fall of Lavos

**A Step Onto Chronos Chapter 26**

**The Fall of Lavos**

Shadic the Hedgehog

"SO. YOU MORTALS HAVE RETURNED," Lavos' mental voice was still practically deafening, but said in such a calm way, that we weren't reaching for our heads in agony. "AND WHAT MAKES YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU WILL WIN THIS TIME? SO YOU RAISED A FOREST FROM A DESERT AND REUNITED A FEW FAMILIES. BAH. IT WILL ALL BE DESTROYED EVENTUALLY ANYWAY. WHETHER BY MY POWER, OR YOU KIND'S."

"That's not the point. Your life threatens the life of every living thing on this world. If we allow you to do as you wish, then when your Spawn leave, this world will be no more. And that is something we won't allow," I replied. "As for what makes us believe that we'll win? Those missions weren't about weakening you or strengthening the planet. Not directly, anyway. They were to strengthen us!" On the last word, we all began glowing or in some way manifesting our powers, magical and otherwise. Lavos' eye stayed wide for a moment before continuing it's lazy blinking.

"IF YOU BELIEVE YOUR POWER IS SO GREAT. THEN LET'S SEE YOU DEAL WITH THIS!" Lavos roared on his own last word and I felt a brief sensation of time travel. But it didn't feel quite right. As I found myself, Crono, and Lucca standing on the bridge to the prisons of Guardia Castle, facing down the Dragon Tank once more, I realized why.

"All our old enemies," whispered Lucca. "He's making us fight enemies we faced off against before."

"I wonder if they're as weak as they were before?" asked Crono.

"One way to find out," I replied. We drew our weapons and flew into battle. One swing of the Rainbow removed the Head of the Dragon Tank, while a shot from Lucca's Wondershot blew out the wheels, and the Murasame smashed open the body like a hot knife through butter. Or even a cold knife through butter. I've never had any trouble with using cold knife...

Anyway, after ripping apart the Dragon Tank, we were again cast through the odd time-warp. This time, Marle was with us as we fought the Guardian again, after quickly bringing her up to speed on Lavos' plan. Rather than have us each destroy a piece the same time, Marle decided to just shoot the main robot with her Valkyrie, and we were rewarded with an instant "Breakdown" from the machine.

We were left with this group for the next three battles against the Heckran (dispatched with a single bolt of lightning), Zombor (one hit to each half with just our weapons), and MasaMune (Just one tap from the Murasame took him out). The group finally changed as we reached Nizbel, Crono and Marle being replaced by Robo and Ayla, who were quickly brought up to speed on the situation. Nizbel actually took a bit more work than the other bosses we had fought, but not much more. The combined attack of Robo's Terra Arm and Ayla' Golden Fists dropped him with a couple of blows to the back of the head.

Just before we slid again, I wondered about how the battle with Magus was to play out, considering the fact that Magus was on our side. My suspicions and worries were unfounded, thankfully, as I discovered our group to be Crono, Marle, Lucca, myself, Glenn, and Magus vs Magus. We were rather surprised, but Magus simply declared that, besides the first strike from the Masamune, he wanted to see how he stacked up against his old self.

It was probably the second longest of the battles we had faced and had yet to face. Every barrier that the enemy Magus threw up was instantly beaten down by our Magus. And when the enemy finally dropped all his barriers and started casting Dark Matter, Magus jumped the gun and cast it faster, finishing off his doppelgänger without once drawing the Doom Scythe.

I ended up alone after that one, when I noticed myself standing on an island floating beside a larger one. As I turned around, I drew my sword, just fast enough to block a six-foot long katana version of the Masamune. There stood Sephiroth. While Crono, Ayla, Lucca, Glenn and Marle fought Azala, I had to deal with the One-Winged Angel. As he pulled his sword back, I got into a more ready position. We stared at each other a while before, unlike any other boss on this trip, he spoke.

"Shall we have a rematch?" the words were almost whispered, but I heard them as though he spoke them at a normal tone of voice three feet from me, instead of six. I nodded, and we charged at each other. I knew the secret of this battle, a way to end it quickly, would be to just blow up the island beneath us, but I also knew that that would prove nothing. So we fought, long and hard. Sephiroth was amazingly fast with his otherwise unwieldy sword. Six feet of steel is no small feat to swing around, I assure you, and here he was swinging it like a short sword! My greatest advantage was my magic which I used at every opportunity. I'd throw fireballs, and he'd counter with dark orbs, I'd breathe fire and he'd vanish to somewhere else.

Eventually, I had no idea how long it had been, we both stood across the island from each other. His sword was chipped in several places, and both our clothes seemed to be held together by little more than will, because the threads were likely weakened by the blood that flowed out of the scratches underneath the holes. Several times, particularly after I would get hit with "Descend Heartless Angel," I had felt the power of Barog call to me, tempting me to use it's power to fight him, but I resisted. I now feared the power my divine soul carried. Feared that the next time I used it, I would lose myself in the power so completely, that not even Lucca's love would be able to snap me out of it.

"You fight well, Barog Firestorm," said Sephiroth between breaths.

"That's not my name..." I replied. "I'm Joe McCord, and that's all I want to be."

"Very well then. Let us test the power of 'Joe McCord.'" Sephiroth put his sword by his waist, and I mirrored him. Then we charged, swinging for each other as we met in the middle of the pock-marked island. We stopped and I felt blood erupt from my side, dropping me to one knee. But I knew that I had aimed true, and glanced over my shoulder to see Sephiroth's arm and wing fall off his shoulder, follow soon after by his head. I smiled a little at my victory and, just before I slid to the next fight, I saw a white-ish grey feather float across the field, and a winged, spear-carrying figure step into view.

I then found myself staring down Giga Gaia. Not long after arriving, I drank down an elixir, the damage to my clothes mysteriously gone after my last slide. In any case, Glenn, Lucca, Crono, and I beat down Giga Gaia faster and easier than before, without having to resort to a Tetra Tech. Instead we physically wrecked GG's hand and then pummeled the face till he disintegrated. Then there was one last warp and we were returned to confront Lavos.

"I hope that trip was worth the energy you could have used on us," I smirked. Lavos replied with a wordless scream before raining down his energy bolts. An attack with no name other than "Destruction Rains from the Heavens." We charged as one, a barrage not quite as powerful as the Omega Barrage, but still quite potent drilling into the eye. It survived and Lavos retorted with spines fired from his back. We dodged a lot of them, but unfortunately, not all. Magus was in serious need of an Elixer before continuing, thanks to his magic battle against himself. This item use seemed to piss Lavos off even more as he threw another "Destruction" at us.

Apparently, Ayla had, at some point, been brainstorming with Robo, Magus, or Lucca, because as Crono, Marle, Glenn, and I unleashed some physical attacks on Lavos' eye, they charged up an Omega Flare that, instead of being aimed at Lavos, was pointed at Ayla's outstretched and stone-covered fist. The black flames danced on the magic stone, stretching out like a comet's tail as Ayla flew forward, punching through the eyelid Lavos tried to shield himself with. The attack was accompanied with a cry of "Kage Houou Ken!" and the explosion of black flames was shaped like a bird, even accompanied by a call that sounded like a bird of prey.

The hole in the 'lid made for an excellent target for the next Tetra Tech, which came from the other half of the group. Glenn took point, much like Ayla had for the "Kage Houou Ken," creating a sphere or swirling wind that Crono, Marle, and I added a "Delta Flare" to. The wind took on a sparkling rainbow quality, though the way Glenn held the magic above his head I would almost say it was Goku's Spirit Bomb from DBZ. However, Glenn named it something different as he cast the magic towards Lavos' eye. "Spiraling Prism!" The concentrated magic struck true, and the resulting rainbow explosion broke the lid with the hole in it into multiple shards, revealing the top third of the eye permanently.

With a guaranteed weak spot, We charged up a new level of Barrage, using the pure magic of the elements, rather than the foci of normal spells. Crono's hands held a light bright as a star, counter point to Magus' hand-held black hole. Lucca and Marle held points of burning red energy and cold blue energy, respectively, while Glenn and Ayla were holding swirling yellow and steady green energy. Robo, who had no magic, simply charged a laser that would have completely fried the Rust Tyrano, while I forced most of my magic out into a nimbus of fire that took the shape of Barog, but did not transform me.

That turned out to be the last attack of the battle against the shell, as the Ultimate Barrage basically disintegrated the eye completely, the explosion accompanied by Lavos' wordless scream of pain. We quickly drank down some Turbo Ethers and Hyper Tonics until we were back to full strength and then we jumped into the belly of the beast.

Silently, we followed the breathing sound towards the center of the planet parasite, the cavern large enough to accommodate us in a tw-by-four formation. Entering the chamber of Inner Lavos, the laboured breathing sound became almost deafening. As our eyes adjusted to the darkness, our ears began to tune out the sound in the background. The robotic form of Inner Lavos seemed to slowly fade into view, and once again, he spoke.

"So... You Defeated The Shell..." The voice was subdued, almost a whisper of its former self. "It Seems... I Underestimated Your Power... Come... Face Your Doom..." The arms fell away from the body, pulling open the chest in the initial attack, called the "Doors of Destruction," two sickly-yellow lasers lancing out and scorching the ground beneath us, which would have destroyed us utterly, had we been anyone else.

The group, as it had been divided, started fighting the arms, to make it easier to defeat him, as the arms apparently contained some form of force field generator that shielded the main body from harm at all times. The right arm was the first to go, the strange crescent energy beams the arms fired easily dodged, destroyed by a well placed Dark Napalm combo, but before we could destroy the left arm, it unleashed a series of orbs that entered Magus. Magus waved off any help, and Marle, Crono, and Glenn used Arc Impulse to finish off the arm.

The body then revealed what those orbs did, using Chaos Zone to temporarily confuse Magus. He stood there laughing for a couple seconds before attacking Ayla, who stood beside him, still laughing. Ayla dodged and countered, which she admitted was merely a reflex, but the punch to the face managed to snap Magus out of it, and we turned our attention back to Inner Lavos.

As we turned to attack, the third eye-like hole at the top of the machine released a black, foul smelling gas that weakened us slightly, and caused Magus to retch. We quickly downed a Heal potion each, which only seemed to do Magus any good. We pummeled the body for a while, sometimes attacking in combos, sometimes individually. On occasion, he would retaliate with a small stream of fire that Lucca or I would block and return, and once he fire a single red laser from the mouth-like thing under his main eyes that ignited the black gas that still lingered. Unfortunately, the attack didn't seem to count as a fire attack, so we couldn't do anything about it other than weather the black flames.

Finally, the body was destroyed with an earsplitting screech. As the pieces of Inner Lavos faded away, the Attack Bit of Lavos Core appeared.

"You are worthy life forms, indeed. I was right to choose this planet for harvesting," said Lavos. His "voice" was quiet. "Though I should have destroyed all of you when I had the chance."

"Harvesting?" asked Marle.

"Indeed. My race lives among the stars, seeking out worlds to live within and harvest. Eventually, we will have absorbed the most desirable traits of every race ever to exist on a world, then share the DNA with our children. One of them will return to the Great Mother who birthed us all, while the others seek out their own worlds to devour. Through this process, we will eventually reach perfection, and be liken unto gods."

Robo beeped momentarily, "Already his power seems incalculable compared to everything we've encountered."

"And once you are destroyed, I will add your powers to my children and nothing will be able to withstand the might of our kind."

"Sorry, not gonna happen. You see, I've already briefed the rest of the group on your weaknesses," I replied. "That's one reason you can't kill us. The other reason is that this is our story, and the good guys always win."

Lavos Core chuckled, then threw his hands into the air. The roar of Lavos sounded again, and the bits appeared as the chamber we stood in faded out. When our sight returned to us, we were floating in a vortex of swirling green energy. Unlike the game, the bits and core didn't stand in a perfectly straight line, and even moved about the battle field, ruining the "Falcon Hit" strategy we had planned on using.

As the final battle began, I could hear a strange groaning noise that seemed to rotate around me, and as Robo attacked the "Defense Bit" (as I dubbed the one that originally was to the left of the attack bit) with Uzzi Punch, a staccato almost drum-like noise began to sound from the vortex. As I joined in the destruction of the Defense Bit, I realized I was hearing the boss fight song emanating from all around us. As we destroyed the Defense Bit the first time, after dodging several spells and boulders from the middle "Attack Bit" (but still getting struck by some of them), the strangled cry from the song cried out, at just the right time. As the others kept the Attack Bit busy, I kept watch of the "Life Bit," the one that contained the essence of Lavos Core, until I saw it shine green and release the shield it protected itself with to power up for reviving the Defense Bit.

As one we charged up and attacked, unleashing an Elemental Barrage on it to test its defenses. It shrieked in pain (again, in time with the music), and backed away behind the Attack Bit. We ignored its attempt at hiding itself from us by attacking through the Attack Bit with the stronger Omega Barrage. The Attack Bit disintegrated as the vortex seemed to shift slightly to reveal an area from Ayla's time. Only a few seconds after the temporal shift, the Life Bit revived the other two bits, and I was surprised to discover that they came back stronger, or rather, faster.

While Ayla, Robo, and Crono attempted to take down the Defense Bit as quickly as they possibly could, Magus and I were charging up a Shadow Flare combo, to be unleashed at the destruction of the Defense Bit. Lucca, Glenn, and Marle were keeping the Attack Bit busy, attempting to dodge it's large fists and bolts of lightning from its "Crying Heavens" spell. As soon as we heard the shriek of the Defense Bit dying again, we unleashed our spell, just as the Life Bit restored its defensive shield.

The spell was an area spell, thanks to its spell components being two area spells, so while it didn't do much to the Life Bit, it did deal a significant portion of damage to the Attack Bit, allowing Glenn and Marle to throw a "Frozen Tundra" spell at it. The spell impacted heavily on the giant stone the Attack Bit had summoned, shattering it before it could be used as part of the "Grand Stone" attack. The chips of ice and rock pelted the Bit, but didn't destroy it. Lucca and Robo performing "Fire Tackle," however, did. Once again, the Life Bit released its shield, and we unleashed another Omega Barrage at it. The reason we didn't use the Ultimate Barrage was because it used every drop of magic we had after we used it, and that would leave us horribly vulnerable as we scrambled to heal up.

This time, as the Bits were revived, the scenery shift from Prehistory, to AD 1000. More specifically, it showed Leene's Bell in Leene Square. The Defense and Attack Bits were revealed to be just as fast as they had been last time they were revived, but this time, they seemed a bit tougher, as evidenced when Lucca's Wondershot didn't seem to deal much damage to the Attack Bit. So this time, we had five people working on killing the Defense Bit, while the other three tried to hurt the Life Bit again. Ayla, Robo, Crono, Glenn, and I used as many physical combos as we could on the Defense Bit, when we were blindsided by the Attack Bit... Singing...

The sound that emerged from the Attack Bit could only be loosely referred to as singing, in that it changed pitch several times, but otherwise was akin to "nails on a chalkboard." I use quotes because I've never actually heard the dreaded noise. Anyway, it seemed that the sound had some adverse affects on most of the party: Robo became confused, I was "poisoned" (really, it just made me want to throw up a great deal), Ayla was unconscious, Lucca's glasses cracked badly (luckily, she had a spare pair), and Crono was gripping his head in pain, unable to concentrate.

Thankfully, only a single Heal item was required, as Ayla apparently had learned a mass-status effect cure spell combo with Marle thanks to her new spell-casting ability. We then returned to battle against the Defense Bit, a well placed Cleave from Crono (he decided to rename"Spincut") split the Bit in half. We then decided that it would be too much of a hassle to try and do the same to the Attack Bit as well, and hoped that if it didn't have to be regenerated, it wouldn't get the bonuses from the Time Shifts.

We unleashed another Omega Barrage as the Life Bit lowered its defenses again, followed quickly by our last Megalixir. Ignoring the Attack Bit seemed to be enough of a strategy that we were able to unleash another Omega Barrage before the Defense Bit was revived. And this time, it was revived with an image of Lab 16, from AD 2300, behind it. Once again, the Bit seemed tougher, but it was more that it seemed to defend itself better than being able to last longer. It also seemed to be hitting more often with its rare charges. Unfortunately, the Attack Bit seemed to get the same upgrade, as its attack spells and its physical attack seemed to be able to hit better.

We still continued to ignore the Attack Bit, after Lucca and Magus cast Barrier and Protect spells on us, and Marle, Glenn, and Ayla casting Cure spells on us as we beat on the Defense Bit. The Defense Bit seemed to not care about the damage we were inflicting to it, and instead cast its own kind of "Cure" spell on the Life Bit and Attack Bit at the same time. We continued pummelling the Defense Bit for all we could, without using any magic, which made things tougher, but still doable. The Defense Bit disintegrated again just as the Life Bit restored its shield, causing us to have to wait for a while before we could attack it effectively. We took this opportunity to pass out two Elixirs to everyone, one for each of the probable remaining eras we would have to fight in.

As the Life Bit dropped its barrier, the Attack Bit unleashed a strange attack involving the formation of triangles that I recalled as being named "Dreamreaver, the ultimate magic attack." We screamed in pain, Marle, Glenn, and Ayla quickly casting a mass Full-Cure spell as soon as they recovered from the pain itself. Then we had just enough time to strike the Life Bit with an Omega Barrage before the background changed to show the Mammon Machine and some of the decorations from Zeal, showing that we were now fighting in 12,000 BC. The Age of Magic.

My fears on the Core's new strength was not unfounded, as the Attack Bit pointed a hand at me and I was struck by the lightning of the "Crying Heavens," sending me to my knees. We could not afford to let him cast the Dreamreaver again, considering how much damage it had done to us before, and how much stronger it would likely be if it managed to cast it again. I healed myself with an explosion of flame, which I then redirected at the Life Bit, just as it revived the Defense Bit. We cast another quick Omega Barrage (since the Defense Bit was already at full health, it couldn't get much stronger) and then chugged down one of our Elixirs as the Life Bit reaised its shields. The Omega Barrage had a bonus, though: the Attack Bit had been hit indirectly from enough Omega Barrages that it was destroyed by that one, which guaranteed us to be safe from the Dreamreaver spell until the next revive.

Attacking from as many directions as possible, we cut, punched, and shot the Defense Bit until it was destroyed again, just as the Life Bit released its shield. Nodding to each other, we gathered our magic for another Ultimate Barrage, causing the Life Bit to scream in pain as it... disintegrated! It cried out with the final scream of Lavos as it disappeared. It was wordless, but I could almost hear it crying out "No, this cannot be!"

Once it was gone, and we drank down our final Elixirs, the swirling background began shifting again, taking on the features of each era we had visited, plus AD 600, starting from 65 Million until it reached 2300. And everything then turned white, our victory gained, and we were returned to AD 1000. The world of Chronos had been saved at last, and Lavos would trouble it no longer.

At least, not as Lavos...

_"Anything I can do to help?"_ _"Short of dying? No, can't think of a thing."____-Morden, Emissary of the Shadows, and Vir Cotto, Centauri Attaché, Babylon 5, Episode 15, Season 3_

* * *

A/N: And here we are, Lavos is dead, and I've left a bit of a "You Should Know This Already" cliffie. There are now only two chapters remaining until the end of this story and then I'll try and find time to write the sequel, which I have decided to call "Crossing Chronos." Originally, it was going to be "Old Friends, New Enemies," but the eponymous character would barely show up in the story, so I scrapped that title. Also, A Step Onto Chronos has it's own page on the TV Tropes Wiki! It's page is a href:/Main/AStepOntoChronos here/a. And if the link didn't show up (experimenting with html code, to see if it works on ff(dot)net), here's the link spelled out: http(colon)(slash)(slash)tvtropes(dot)org(slash)pmwiki(slash)pmwiki(dot)php(slash)Main(slash)AStepOntoChronos. Unfortunately, I need help in figuring out some of the relevant tropers my story has within it, so if my delightful readers could help me out, I'd be very grateful. I'll start work on Epilogue 1 soon! 


	27. Epilogue 1: Aftermath

**A Step Onto Chronos Epilogue 1**

**Aftermath**

Shadic the Hedgehog

"Mmmm," I moaned as I stretched. I had had the most interesting dream, involving magic and dragons and adventure. Of course, it paled in comparison to the adventure I had just finished with Crono and the gang. As I sat up and looked around, I recognized the couch I was sleeping on as the couch Crono had slept on the night the two of us discussed the Invincibles. I swung my legs over the edge of the couch and stood up, sighing in appreciation as my back popped several times.

"That had to feel good," commented a voice over my shoulder.

"Oh, it did," I replied, turning to find Lucca already dressed for the day. I had, apparently, slept in my clothes, so I had little need to get dressed in order to be ready. "Have any interesting dreams?"

"Oh, a few. You?"

"One, really, but it was more interestingly odd than anything else."

"Any idea what we should do now?"

"I propose we speak with King Guardia about Crono's deeds across time. I thought you had already seen the ending?"

"I did, but that doesn't mean there aren't other things to be done." She blushed suddenly and I laughed at her inadvertent statement. She retaliated by slapping me on the arm.

"Hey, you thought it, not me." We headed out the door, and the Epoch was sitting there, waiting for us. "So, who should we get first?"

"I'd say Doan, since we don't know how long it will take for Lavos' death to change things, and go back from there."

"Alright. But remember, first we must tell the king about our plans."

"Right." The two of us left the house and found the Epoch conveniently parked outside. We hopped in and sped to Castle Guardia, where we spoke to the King.

"Oh, hello, you two. And what are you doing here?"

"We wanted to get your permission for a plan," I replied.

"Indeed?"

"Yes, sire. You see, we have defeated Lavos recently, and everyone has been transplanted back to their original times. We had a thought about a festival to celebrate saving the world, as well as a surprise for Marle, er, Princess Nadia, and Crono. We plan on travelling through time and collecting everyone, plus the leaders of the different eras, which includes your distant ancestors and descendents."

"This is... a monumental undertaking. Arranging a festival may take a few days, but it could be done." He turned to one of the soldiers by the throne. "You there, check the princess's room and see if she's there. If she's asleep, don't wake her. If she isn't there, don't panic. We're dealing with time travel, so she may have arrived after they did."

I blinked as the soldier saluted and made for the stairs. "You're quite knowledgeable of time travel, sire. I'm somewhat surprised."

"I had a visitor the other day." He turned to the stairs to his room. "You may come out now." And down the stairs walked Robo-Belthasar. "He came to me in a vehicle similar to yours, informing me of your victory. The Starlight Festival is already being set up, and you won't need to visit the far future: Guru Belthasar has already brought Doan and Sir Robo with him. You two can get my royal and other ancestors and come back here."

Robo-Belthasar raised his hand, "I came back earlier than you because I 'felt' the time line change as Lavos died. Everything in AD 2300 as it was is gone, and -" He glanced over to the opposite stairwell before ducking behind the King's throne. The soldier had returned. He saluted and informed us that Nadia, that is Marle, had indeed returned and was asleep.

The King turned to us and nodded. "Now, what was the rest of your plan?"

"Ahem. Right. After collecting the other heroes and your distant relatives, we would send a guard to Crono's house to wake him and bring him here, using his trial as a reason." I said.

"Wait," Lucca interrupted, "I told Crono about this back in Zeal. It's not going to work that way. We'll need something else to bring him in."

The King smiled. "How about an engagement?" We blinked and looked up at him. "I may be old, but I know love when I see it, and that young man and my daughter are most definitely in love. You two go collect our guests. I will make arrangements for Crono to join us in the castle."

We saluted and left, hurrying into the Epoch and took off for the past. We collected King Guardia and directed Glenn to the Time Gate. Glenn made sure that Magus was told, and the King knew, but couldn't believe, that the "Enemy of All That Lives" was now a Hero of Time. We took the King with us back to 65,000,000 BC to meet Kino and Ayla, taking Kino in the Epoch while Ayla headed for the Gate at Tyrano Palace.

We returned to Castle Guardia, AD 1000, and led the previous leaders into the throne room. We left the dignitaries and Lucca to their scheming and headed for Leene Square to pick up Glenn, Magus, and Ayla from the Gate, and to keep the Epoch out of view of Crono. After picking them up, we hovered above and behind Crono's house until he was picked up by the guards (the journey was made by horse and carriage, so it was much faster than by foot), then followed a ways behind the cart. After Crono made it into the castle, we landed outside and followed after.

We met Robo-Balthasar and Robo at the entrance as we heard Marle squeal in delight. We approached the big doors and started listening in.

"Yes, yes. We're very happy for you both. But that isn't the only reason I have called you here, Sir Crono. Congratulations on saving the future of our world," said the King, smile evident in his voice.

"...What?" Marle suddenly went quiet.

"You saved the future, and taught us how to have hope," said Doan.

"You defeated Magus's troops," Magus snorted," and restored peace to the year 600," said King Guardia XXI.

"Crono beat Reptites!" cheered Kino, Ayla nodding in agreement with us.

"Wh-what's going on?" asked the bewildered princess. "Why are you all here?" Lucca came out and laughed. "Lucca! Did you bring them all here?" Lucca apparently nodded in response, because the next person to talk was King Guardia XXXIII.

"You undertook quite the daunting mission. These past and future members of our line told me much about it."

"Members of our line? You mean...?"

"Yes. Here I was fussing about rules and worried you would never come back, when you were saving the past, present, and future of our world! Everyone, could you please come in?" We entered, single file, in order of era, with Magus leading before Glenn, and Robo-Balthasar before Robo. We stood alongside Lucca, Crono, except Robo-Belthasar who moved beside Doan. "Now, before these rulers of the world, we dub the eight of you the Heros of Time, and grant you the titles of Dukes and Duchesses in all of our kingdoms. May your legend transcend the ages we rule."

After a while of rejoicing and signing papers and things to make our titles official, King Guardia XXXIII clapped his hands to get our attention. "Now, I do believe that a celebration is in order. Tonight, we celebrate the death of Lavos, and the life of the world!" We were led off by various servants to get dressed in attire befitting our new titles, which none of us particularly enjoyed.

The man doing the outfits turned out to be the very same man that made my adventuring outfit. He greeted me with a smile and discussed my outfit. Turns out that my worries of over-done frills and other unnecessary details was mostly unfounded. I still had to wear a cape, but it was otherwise like a business suit. And it was black and red, which made me happy, the red covering more than the black, unlike my usual outfit.

As I returned to the entrance hall, I saw the others, dressed in colours related to their elements: Marle was in her usual dress, only in a light blue, as she stood next to Crono in a white outfit. Ayla's fur bikini was exchanged for a green suit similar to Crono's (apparently she steadfastly refused to be in something that would hamper her movements), and she stood beside Robo, who remained wearing nothing but Atropos's ribbon, though he was much shinier than usual. Glenn wore a yellow suit fitted to his froggy form, while Magus leaned against the wall in a pitch-black outfit similar to his original suit. Finally, I saw Lucca, who was looking radiant in a bright red, sparkly gown. Kino and Doan were wearing brown versions of the formal suit.

We all travelled in style to Leene Square, where we joined in a parade around the fairgrounds before we were introduced to the populace under our titles, along with Robo showing a video of Lavos and the battle against him. He simulated the voice of Lavos, translating the psychic voice into an audio one. We then joined in the festivities reminiscent of the Millenial Fair of three months previous, with the prehistoric music now actually being played by people from then, namely Ayla and Kino.

At midnight, the visitors from out of time travelled with the party to the Telepods, which were shining with technicolour lights like the rest of the fairgrounds.

"Well, everyone," Lucca said. "This is it."

"The time to depart is upon us," Glenn lamented.

"Now that Lavos is gone, the Progress is sealing the eras from each other," agreed Magus.

"So we have to say goodbye while they're still open," I added. "Gaspar will meet you guys on the other side and direct you to your own times. But don't worry. We'll still be able to visit every once in a while with the Epoch."

Kino and Ayla moved beside the Gate first.

"Crono, Marle, everyone, strong! Ayla... I... had... fun!" said Ayla, stumbling over the use of proper grammar.

Marle giggled, "You guys are my distant ancestors, so you guys better have strong kids!"

Kino laughed, "No worry! Ayla have big energy!"

"She does at that!" Marle blinked. "Wait, what?"

Ayla shoved Kino into the Gate. "Kino dumb! Ayla go now!" She ran in after him. Lucca and I laughed as Glenn and King Guardia XXI approached the Gate.

"Quite the exuberant lot, hm?" Glenn chuckled. "And to think, we are their descendents."

"The queen awaits us, Duke MacDougal. Shall we be off?" replied the 21st King.

"Of course, Your Majesty. But, please, call me Glenn." They walked through the Gate themselves, Magus moving up.

"I must say," he started. "That despite our initial meeting, I have grown... used to you. Don't die."

"Going to look for Schala?" I asked.

"Perhaps. I shall return to my original time, and if I find a way to look about the time stream for her, I shall. Otherwise, I will look over the Last Village and help them grow."

"See you."

"Indeed." And with that, he was gone. Finally, Doan and Robo approached the Gate.

"The future is different. I can tell from here," said Robo.

"Do you think... There's a place there for you?" asked Lucca.

"Yes. I started this journey with naught but my original programming, but travelling alongside you, and farming that forest for four hundred years has changed me enough that I can feel things. And I feel that there is a place for Doan and myself in that future."

"I'll miss you, you know that, right?"

"And I shall miss you, as well. But you are not alone here, you know this. And you can visit whenever you want. We worked hard for that future. I shall enjoy it, especially since I know how it could have turned out."

I turned to Robo-Belthasar, who stood back, away from the Gate. "And what about you?"

He turned from side to side, clearly shaking his head no. "Unlike them, I have no place there. There is another me who I has his own life to live without my interference. I shall stay here, and help your people." I nodded sadly, then turned back to Lucca and Robo as they hugged before Robo went into the Gate himself.

As Crono's cat ran in, I caught him and started petting him, letting before passing him off to Crono as Mrs. Trigaru came in. Crono talked to his mom, introducing her personally to Marle, as we had all been introduced to the populace earlier (including the engagement of Princess Nadia Guardia to Duke Crono Trigaru). As he did so, I watched the Gate close.

"And that's the end of that chapter of our story," I commented. "Now a new one begins."

"We've become heroes. Now, let's be people," said Marle.

"I wonder how our story will end?" asked Crono.

"Hopefully, peacefully," Lucca said.

And we walked off to main fairgrounds, for the hanging of Nadia's Bell.

May our prayers for peace ring on for eternity.

_"Best friends can be inseparable even when they're apart."_

_-Axel, the Flurry of Dancing Flames, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days_

_---_

A/N: And here's the first epilogue. One more chapter and I'll be done. I've spent five years on this story and I'll be kinda sad to see it be done. At least there will be a sequel to look forward to, right?

I hope for some reviews! I didn't get any last chapter, and my TV Tropes page has only been updated by me! Please, let me know there are people reading this!


	28. Epilogue 2: The Biggest Wedding of All

**A Step Onto Chronos Epilogue 2**

**The Biggest Wedding of All Time**

Shadic the Hedgehog

Five Years Later...

64,999,995 BC

"Beginning final testing sequence!" called Lucca. She stood beside a control panel emblazoned with six symbols, a fist, a Nu, a sword, a gun, a robot, and a clock, arranged around a large red button. She pressed the fist symbol, then the clock, then glanced at the large ring across from her as she pressed the red button. The ring began to glow blue, before the long-missed noise of a Time Gate opening sounded. "Eye of Time activation complete, now sending through test object." I pressed a button on Gato III's back and he marched forward. The original Gato, as well as Gato II, had been wrecked during earlier tests.

Gato III passed through the Eye, as we occasionally referred to the machine. Its official designation was the "Eye of Time," but calling it "the Eye" worked just as well. The device was designed to work as a time machine that could transport a great deal of people at time, rather then ferrying everyone through time with the Epoch. Right now we were testing to see if we could send Gato III to The End of Time, as we had successfully sent him to every other era we had programmed in. The Eye was made with the combined intelligence of Lucca and Eon, who was once referred to as Robo-Belthasar, using the remains of Lavos, as they were heavily charged with temporal energy. It had taken a year alone to use the Epoch to transport enough pieces of Lavos's shell, then another year to put everything together properly. And that was after a year of planning the whole thing.

Now there was an "Eye of Time" that existed in every time period (though we weren't entirely sure on The End of Time, not until Gato III came back), though the only way to activate it would be with a special key that was to be given to the Ayla and Kino, who would pass it down to their descendants/the leaders of the world, (save for Zeal, in which case, the person in charge of it would be an Earthbound). This would be done to prevent the Eye from being activated for unnecessary reasons and polluting the time stream. There was a second key, but it would belong to our family, to accomplish the same ends.

Eon and Gaspar had already projected the changes to the time stream, and found the changes would be minimal, though Magus would have had an extra motivation in the Mystic War in attempting to capture the Time Key from Guardia so that he could return home faster. One of the commandments of carrying the Time Key would be that it was only to be used in the absolute direst of emergencies, a prolonged war not counting. This clause was to prevent King Guardia (any of them) from using the Eye to get help.

After a few moments, Gato III came back out of the Eye, and played the Final Fantasy Victory Fanfare I had programmed into him (I had learned a lot from Lucca and Eon over the years).

"Well, it looks like we're done with the Eye of Time. Shall we go home?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure Crono and Marle are taking good care of Rosa while we're here, but I think it's finally time to head back," Lucca agreed. We started towards loading Gato III on the Epoch, when I decided to use the Eye instead. I should probably explain who Rosa is. About a year ago, during one of our breaks from the Gateway Project (the preliminary name), Lucca and I were walking through Guardia Forest, when we came upon an abandoned baby girl. We took her back home with us to Lucca's, but the only bit of identification she had was an amulet that had been glowing brightly, and her blanket had the word "Kid" sewn into it. I protested naming her such, because who names a child "kid?" That's like naming a kitten "kitty!" So we brainstormed a while and decided to name her Rosa.

Lucca and I were engaged by this point, though neither of us had done anything inappropriate with each other yet, and we had been making plans with Crono and Marle for a double wedding at the Cathedral in AD 600. We had so far planned to invite almost everyone we had met throughout time, which meant that first we had to finish the Eye of Time. Now we were returning to our time to finalize the plans and invitations.

Going back to the Castle was bit of a walk, because we had placed the Eye of Time at the place the Epoch would stop when travelling from the End of Time. As this spot included the spot Lavos was supposed to rise in AD 1999, this would mean that the Eye would be destroyed in the bad future, though it was still standing in the good future, as we had found by sending Gato III through (We had to keep it quick, though, due to reasons explained later).

Gato III and I approached the Time Dial and I inserted the Time Key, which caused the red button in the middle to glow. I pushed the buttons for with the rock and gun, then pressed the red button. I sent Gato III on ahead before I pulled the Key out, knowing that I had just under a minute before the Gate would close and I had to do the procedure over again. It wasn't much of a hassle to actually push the buttons, but, as we discovered in an early test, if the Gate in the Eye shut as someone was partway through, only that part would be sent through time.

On the other side, Gato III was already making his way to Lucca's house to shut down, while Lucca arrived in the Epoch to pick me up and take me to the castle, where we would speak with Crono and Marle, then take Rosa home. By the end of the day, we had finalized our plans for the wedding. We had previously asked Melchior to be the minister, even though Spekkio wanted to do it. We argued back with the fact that he was known as the God of War, not the God of Love and Peace, and he relented. Melchior had decided on a ceremony that was ancient in the time of Zeal, but felt it was somehow appropriate for the marriage of time travellers. He had also asked Magus for a hand, as it was originally written for a single couple's wedding, rather than the double wedding we were planning.

The wedding itself was planned to end just a few hours before the start of the fifth Starlight Festival, which was the next week. That day was full of great things, but there was one sour note for the Heroes of Time: at the exact moment that Lavos was defeated, we could hear its dying scream, no matter the time period we were in. Lucca and I flew Rosa home in the Epoch, something she had taken a while to get accustomed to, and landed in the back yard. Lucca's house had been expanded a bit, to add on a room for myself and one for Rosa, plus another two for when she and any potential siblings she might have to move into after they got old enough.

After the week had passed, everything was finally set for the wedding. We retrieved the guests in order of era, with all of the prehistoric people first, including a couple Reptites that had made peace with them. Next came the people of Antiquity, the "Earthbound" and "Enlightened Ones" arriving as one group, the differences between the two now almost negligible, though the ones who used to be "Enlightened Ones" had a bit more variety to their hair colour than the "Earthbound," once the dye in their hair started to wash out.

Next up, we brought the people of AD 1000 to AD 600. Lucca and I had previously visited AD 2300 to speak with Doan, Robo, and Atropos, especially after the wedding was finally put together, but the only people who were interested in meeting us were Doan, Robo, Atropos, and Belthasar. So with Magus, that made five people out of several million who wanted to travel to the past.

The new 2300 was an interesting place, with plenty of tall towers made of some form of crystals. Eon's house was replaced by a large academy building built around the Eye of Time, which was used as part of their study. Apparently, Lucca's massive intelligence wasn't passed down the generations, because the Eye of Time was far more advanced than anything the people of 2300 could build. The Key had also apparently been lost, which had contributed to their confusion. As such, we had to use the Epoch to carry Magus and the rest back to the wedding. Gaspar and Spekkio also travelled to AD 600 with the Eye, so we could ignore then.

Everyone assembled at the Cathedral, which King Guardia XXI, Queen Leene, and Duke Glenn had modified to allow several planets worth of people to attend by opening the front of it completely, and breaking down the wall of the secret area Yakra had lived in.

Melchior, Gaspar, Eon, and Belthasar were happy to see each other, trading theories and tales for a while, before Melchior moved up to the raised platform we would be using, a short sword in his sash. Magus stood beside him with another short sword on his belt.

"If I may have everyone's attention, please?" Every stopped talking and looked up at Melchior. "Thank you. I welcome you all to this wedding, which shall be done in the ancient style of our world, from a time before the Age of Antiquity, but long after the Prehistoric Age." He motioned to the Mystic band that was set up off to the side, and they began playing a slow song that was both regal and powerful. As the song began, Crono, Marle, Lucca, and I approached in calm, measured steps. We weren't moving slowly, though, and we reached the stage just as the music ended.

We stood, Crono and I facing each other, while Marle and Lucca faced away from us, just a few steps away, but almost back-to-back with us, otherwise. When Melchior and Magus spoke next, they spoke in an old tongue, and I heard both the meaning and the words as they spoke them.

**"Hovmey So'Ha' bIngDaq Qam SuvwI'" **("The warrior stands beneath the naked stars.")

**"poSDaq jaghpu' nIHDaq jaghpu' Dat chaHtaH" ** ("Enemies to the left, Enemies to the right, they are everywhere.")

**"SuvtaH SuvwI' batlh Suv nIteb Suv SuvlaHchu' 'ach Heghbej"** ("The warrior fights continuously. He fights with honour. He fights alone. He can fight perfectly but he will certainly die.")

**"vaj mamuvchuq cha' moj wa' tuq moj cha' mangghom moj tuqmey wo' chen mangghommey"** ("Thus, we join one another. One becomes two. Two becomes a household. Houses become armies. Armies build the empire.)

**"Crono/Joseph, bISawrup'a'?"** ("Crono/Joseph, do you marry her?")

We replied, in the same tongue,** "HIja'" **("Yes.")

**"Nadia/Lucca, bInayrup'a'?" **("Nadia/Lucca, do you marry him?")

They replied the same, **"HIja'" **("Yes.")

The four of us took two steps backwards, each, coming closer to actual back-to-back contact with our partners. Melchior and Magus drew the short swords and held them up, Melchior's above Crono and Marle, Magus's above Lucca and I. We each reached up, grasping the hilt of the sword before turning to face each other. Lucca was smiling as we stared into each other's eyes, and I was vaguely aware that I was smiling as well. Magus and Melchior lowered the blades they held to waist level, before placing their free hands atop ours.

**"DaHjaj mobHa' tlhIH. DaHjaj tagh wo'"** ("Today, you are un-alone. Today the Empire begins.") Magus withdrew the blade, leaving Lucca and I holding hands, while Melchior did the same with Crono and Marle. **"pItlh."** ("Finished.") As soon as they said that, we both leaned in and kissed each other, for... some time. As the crowd started to cheer, Magus and Melchior shouted three last words.

**"yIn! batlh! Qapla'!"**("Life! Honour! Success!")

The crowd's cheers quickly drowned out everything else, as we started back towards the Eye of Time, to celebrate the fifth Starlight Festival, the wedding, and peace.

_"And they lived happily ever after."_

_-Countless fables and fairy tales._

A/N: And it's done. Of course, I've already said there's going to be a sequel, and some of the issues that come up between the end of this and the beginning of Chrono Cross will be addressed in the prologue of that. It will be entitled "Crossing Chronos," which I might have said before.

Also, if anyone gets where I got the wedding ceremony from, kudos to you, though I doubt many Trekkies will be reading this story. The reason is the similar pronunciation of "Chronos" with the name of the planet the ceremony is from. My dad gave me the idea.

The honeymoon will be left to your imaginations, if you really want to imagine it, but please don't ask me to write anything about it.

Goodbye and good night! Or morning. Or whatever.

_"Til the next. Live well, all."_

_-riderofdragons._ (Wow, two quotes!)


End file.
